Legend of the Faint Smile
by AstralMiscreant
Summary: Sequel to Rebirth of the Faint Smile. After years of being reborn into the elemental nations and finally accepting her fate, Teresa is given a new chance at life. Now, she must learn to raise the child of prophecy, Uzumaki Naruto. However, her path is not an easy one as she must find a way to deal with the impending events of a village massacre, a new adversary, and a possible war.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: All rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto and Norihiro Yagi respectively.**

* * *

 **The Legend of the Faint Smile**

By. Astral Miscreant

 **Rating: T** (may possibly change to M in future)

 **Character(s):** Teresa, Naruto, Kakashi, Obito, Kurenai, Danzo, Ilena (cameo), Clare (cameo), and the Konoha Eleven.

 **Summary:** **After years of being reborn into the elemental nations and finally accepting her fate, Teresa is given a second chance at living. And that new symbol of hope comes in the form of Konohagakure no Sato's resident jinchuriki by the name of Uzumaki Naruto. However, her path is not an easy one as she must find a way to deal with the impending events of a village massacre, a new adversary, and a possible war, courtesy of a flame from the past in a foreboding mask. Join her as she deals with the new responsibilities of raising the child of prophecy, finding her place in Konoha, and accepting a new friendship with a few old foes.**

* * *

 **Prologue**

For so long Teresa of the Faint Smile had forgotten what it felt to be human. To be marred with the eternal cycle of living, breathing, thinking, and learning.

It was an unending cycle, humanity's plight, as it was wrought with the twists and turns of the shortcomings of man. But it was beautiful. The tragedy of humanity was something she had been so fixated on for the very fact that she could not even feel one facet of its intensity. Beautiful, yet, so outlandish.

The idea of man—he who is painted as a nuanced portrait with the different shades and details that made him inherently him, such that it was an elusive concept, such that she had no iota of knowledge of how it was to live or even let live. Teresa of the Faint Smile had been averse to this very idea.

There was no emotion of life, there was no light or darkness—only a plain, grey medium that she had now come to conclusion should be dubbed as purgatory.

For in there, in this purgatory, had she roamed the lands with no purpose in life, with no light nor darkness, only grey.

A colorless portrait of a warrior conditioned to the point where all of the last vestiges of humanity that had once made her inherently her, were cruelly drained from her body—from the very last inkling of black that had once shaded her long hair and now colorless eyes.

A warrior, true and bonafide—moulded from the grit of her monotonous life as she was conditioned to simply act as a tool to kill. That was what she had become.

And for so long she had lived vicariously through the blood that was shed by the very sword that forever melded to her hand like a second skin.

Cold and detached, with no sense of empathy or understanding of the truth of life and humanity—for decades Teresa had wandered her realm like this. It was a shame, really, for someone who was forever tainted with a greying perception in all things that so happened to come across her clouded vision.

Suddenly, the hands of fate, or perhaps God, or Kami, or perhaps even the devil himself—she did not know—had decided to grant her a small beacon of light, one that had scintillated in her grim reality.

This light came in the form of a little girl named Clare.

Perhaps it was always preordained for the circumstances of Teresa's plight to be in the hands of those she had loved the most, for when she loved someone, she loved hard. And by the Lord, she had loved Clare.

She had loved her with all her heart, she loved with every breath, every step. However, her time with Clare had only been but a fleeting moment it would seem, as she was unceremoniously thrust into a different reality—one far from the grimness that she had long been accustomed to.

Death it would seem, was not simply a harbinger of fearful apprehension, but perhaps he was also a giver of new hope.

For, once Teresa of the Faint Smile was cut down from her grey pedestal, death took it upon himself to thrust her into the void of the unending where she no longer traipsed the dilapidated grounds of her purgatory. And she would wander endlessly in the darkness until the hands of fate would finally take pity of her plight.

It was Teresa's tragedy, the story of her life that would be lauded in the theater of war. Men would bow down at the result of this tragedy, women would beseech.

And what was this tragedy? Again, it was the emotion of life, the vivid spectrum of humanity, the very concept she had not been privy to for the longest of times.

Yes, for so long Teresa of the Faint Smile had no knowledge of what it felt to be human. She did not understand how these creatures, so mysterious in their conception, could feel the emotion of life with its many aspects of love, hate, camaraderie, envy, and everything and anything that made man intrinsically man.

Though, the misconceptions of this enigma had been shattered to its core with the coming of her redidivus.

The rebirth of a warrior, through an unlikely turn of events, had forever changed Teresa's perception of humanity.

As it was, after her death, the fates took it upon themselves to bless her with a new beginning—a new life where she would discover the innate humanity that had long laid dormant within the cold, empty shell that she had come to possess.

Through fate's hands had she been thrust into a new reality, the reality of the shinobi. A world where time and space seemed to collapse upon itself with the coming of trained warriors attuned with the ki of the world in all its elements. This was what her life would become.

In the land of the elemental nations, Teresa would be dubbed from thenceforth as a child of Konohagakure no Sato, kin of the Shimura clan, and one of the most gifted warriors of her generation, moreover in the shinobi history in its entirety.

Yes, for so long, Shimura Teresa had forgotten what it felt to be human. She had forgotten the emotion of life, for she was stripped away of that very unalienable right so long, long ago.

But here, in the land of milk and honey, the land where shinobi flourished under the weight of the world, Shimura Teresa saw the portrait for what it was worth. No longer was it greying, no longer was she stuck between heaven and hell. She was alive. And very much so.

The world as she knew it, now seen in eyes more polished from its dulled silver, was a vivid portrait conveying all colors of the spectrum in its entirety.

She saw the earth in all of its beauty from the lush greens of the lands. The endless blue of the sky, the dark cerulean depths of the ocean. The stark contrast of night in all its darkness, the glimmering stars that shone up above. The smiling faces of each and every living person, and above all, the brightness of the sun each time it rose for a new chapter.

She saw it all.

The once fleeting candlelight of life that would forever elude her very grasp had suddenly become tangible and so, Teresa grasped it with zeal.

She looked back at this very moment from the time she had fell in love. It was not something that had happened in the most instantaneous moments, nor was it something that she could ever imagine to find herself doing. Prior to any of this, the closest thing to being in love for Teresa was nearly next to never—and if she were to be truthful, indeed it had never occurred in all her lives. In her old life she had loved many, Clare with that platonic love that any mother could feel towards her child, Ilena with the love for a friend that endured through the hardships of battle, despite the fact that they had left one another on a bitter note.

She fell in love with the emotion of life, like a moth who scrambled to a light, ready to plunge into the brightness that would soon mark its own impending death. Teresa swore it would never happen, she was not keen on tossing the first stone to her own fall to condemnation.

But oh, how she fell.

She fell in love with the light in all his shining glory as he scintillated so brightly like no other she had come across in all her existences.

She fell in love with the very idea of him as her maternal instincts pulled for her to draw closer and closer and closer until she was consumed with his infectious light. She fell in love with him the way a mother were to fall in love with the very first sight of her first child. And it was true for the matter, for Uzumaki Naruto was her very first child to behold in all his glory.

She fell in love with the emotion of life and its light, and in doing so, she grew to love her adopted son with an altruistic and unconditional endearment.

For never in her life would a warrior of her caliber, a woman of her capacity, show even the most transient flicker of emotion. Never had she ever displayed any telltale sign of the idea of love. However...

With the light, then would she see the world in all its beauty. With him would she see the entire portrait.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, the winds of fate and the love of a child had blew away the tainted shards of darkness that had ingrained themselves in the silver of her eyes.

The world was no longer grey, the swell of emotions she had once been unable to feel would sweep her away in a maelstrom of intensity that she had wished to taste for so long. This was humanity, this was the emotion of life.

And now she was alive.

This is her story...


	2. Chapter 1: To Build a Home

**Chapter One: To Build a Home**

 _"But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin."_

* * *

Rebirth. Redidivus. Reincarnation.

What did all of those mean? What was this seemingly impossible concept long spoken of in only fictitious stories, stories that only held frivolous fantasies and worlds from the imagination, stories that were not considered real for what they were worth. But what could be as impossible as heaven and hell, as the God to his creation, as life and death itself, had been blessed upon one particular soul.

A cold-hearted and embittered warrior, only dealt with misfortunes all her life with the last semblance of light stripped away to leave her in darkness. That was what the twisted hands of fate had bestowed upon _Teresa of the Faint Smile._ And for so long, she truly did believe of the notion that all things tended only towards decay, that there were no such ideas of love or happiness or light or life. There was but only darkness. A blank slate that stretched out infinitely towards the horizon, only shadowing all things it touched.

But the fates took pity upon the warrior's plight. They soon learned that Teresa of the Faint Smile had been dealt with enough misfortune and so, they thrust her into a new realm—in a world where warriors much like herself would thrive and live in symbiosis with the fruits of the land. A world where shinobi and chakra and all things seemingly impossible were quite possible.

Born and bred in the soils of Konohagakure no Sato, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, Teresa of the Faint Smile had rose from the ashes.

For years she grew under a true bonafide home, a nuclear household, one with a mother and father and her as their child. She was Shimura Teresa, daughter of Shimura Takahiro and Ikumi and granddaughter of Shimura Danzo—a man who was as cold-hearted as herself.

She thrived as one of the most gifted kunoichi of her generation, earning merit everywhere she went and ultimately earning her title as the _"Smiling Blade"_ during the Third Shinobi World War after defeating one of Kumogakure's most revered shinobi. As the final days of the war soon passed and after the death of one of her dearest new companions in her realm, a young shinobi by the name of Uchiha Obito, Teresa left Konoha in sorrow, ready to partake in a new journey.

Years later, Shimura Teresa became a legend amongst the Shinobi world, where she had earned the moniker of the _"Silver-Eyed Witch"—_ a warrior both feared and revered throughout the elemental nations. On her twentieth year, Shimura Teresa returned home after living in the Hidden Village of the Mist to avoid its impending coup d'etat while also having missed Konoha's soils for so long.

Upon her return, auspicious news was what met her person as she was blessed with the chance of raising a child granted upon her by the Third Hokage's permission. Now, it is Shimura Teresa's responsibility to raise the child of prophecy, Uzumaki Naruto, in her new path of revelation and glory. This is her story.

This is her legend...

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The sun rose from the heavens, bathing the lands of Konohagakure with a dim light of both pink and orange hues that coalesced with one another and filled each and every nook and cranny within the entire village. Shadows casted themselves against the vibrant infusion of light and that was when Teresa awoke.

She awoke to the dim ray of morning sunlight filtering through the curtains.

The open window allowed the crisp breeze of dawn to sweep in through the curtains causing goosebumps to rise from her skin as it touched her. Teresa opened her eyes to the sight of the curtains flowing in the breeze, thin and white, like a long ribbon of rippling silk.

She remembered all the times she would wake up like this, slightly disoriented with muddled thoughts. And she would look up to the sky, the ceiling, anything and everything.

She would see the blank white walls, lonely and enclosing, to the point of it being suffocating. The brilliant orange hued skies like a portrait painted out of the chapels of Rabona. Vivid and so very detailed, they would fill the white walls with its color. With its distasteful zeal. The curtains flowing in the perpetual breeze of Konoha mornings would swirl like a maelstrom, unending, going on forever and forever.

Clear, crisp, yet, mundane and all the more bleak. Mornings were the most quiet. So calm and tranquil, that they forced all the foreboding thoughts that had dangerously swirled in the deepest crevices of her mind—push, push, and push, until they were at the forefront of her immediate thoughts. The loss of one of the greatest loves in this new life had left a bitter taste in her mouth. _This was her denial._

Uchiha Obito had tore open her skin and ripped her heart out from under her ribs with his fingernails, letting her bleed out as he continued to murder her with his malicious words that proved more painful than the sharpest blade. Her pain was an all-consuming flame that had been birthed from the flint and steel that was Obito's morbid words of both cynicism and death. His apathetic eyes haunted her every vision as he watched her burn and burn in the fiery rings of hell. Breath caught in her throat, feeling raw, skin stinging. Eyes bleeding out streams of blood that smelled of zinc. Helpless and vulnerable. And so...

She tried to change, close her mouth more. She fasted for sixty days. Lost sleep for forty nights. And when she found the need, she would sleep all day.

Her dreams would be between both worlds, endless, yet brief—passing though the darkness of her forgotten realm and the light of the new one... Grief, sedated by her own hopes for continuation. In turn, these hopes were sedated by grief.

God, the Lord, Kami, were in the room as she awoke each morning feeling helpless, lying in a heap of her own condemnation.

Fate, coincidence, the universe, all laughed at her plight.

They said," It will never end."

And so she prayed. She begged. She abstained from food and water. She bathed in the rivers of her own tears. She begged for forgiveness, she begged for them to absolve her from her sins. For the grief was far too painful, even for one who had hardened her heart to be as strong as steel, as indomitable as the stone. Her faint tears, that too, was a form of supplication. _This was her grief._

And for a brief moment, they had listened...

Mornings were bright, no longer were they nefarious and taunting. The sun, so generous in his warmth, would bring her his light and the beginning of a new day—a day that promised something new. The addition of a new love, a new flame to ignite her hearth had been blessed upon her. A boy, like light, had appeared from the ashes of her plight. And he rose and rose. She would see the light like a monolith in the foundation of her temple.

She would see the white linoleum walls, she would see the scintillating colors of the sky with violets, pinks, and orange hues that would coalesce into a glorious painting of light and life.

And then Naruto would come rushing through the opened door. His childish squeals and giggles would reverberate across the walls and she too would laugh, for his presence was infectious. _This was her redemption._

She awoke to the dim ray of morning sunlight filtering through the curtains. She awoke to a little blond boy, giggling and cuddling into her bed sheets. And when she opened her eyes for the very first time, Teresa realized that mornings were beautiful. _This was her awakening._

"Morning!" The boy greeted as he tumbled into her comforter to burrow himself under her sheets.

She sat up and propped herself on her elbows, smiling. "Good morning, Naruto."

She would stare into the eyes of his father, though his were filled with a whimsical childlike wonder, so big and blue. Her reflection would stare back from the pupils of the eyes and she could see his adoration for her in all its candor. He saw her as his home, something she had wished for so long when she was but a mere child. To feel at home, to feel a love that was altruistic and true. That was all she ever wanted.

"So, what're we gonna do today?" she could hear him ask.

Teresa leaned back onto the headboard, smiling faintly as she did this. "I think today we're going to fix the rest of our new home. After all, it has been a week since we moved in and we haven't even painted any of the rooms," she said thoughtfully.

"Our home..." he mumbled, not quite grasping the weight of her words being that a toddler could barely comprehend abstract thought. Somehow, she had a feeling that despite it all, he had completely understood what it had all meant.

Indeed, she had tried to make a home out of someone else once upon a time. However, doors lead to trap doors and a stairway leads to nothing... And then the grief erodes away, in its place is a polished stone, a new perspective. In consequence, the trap doors led to a new path, a path where her new refuge could be built. He was her home now, just as she was to him. It was the both of them against the world. Two unlikely souls dealt with an unfavorable past had somehow found one another. This was what she had been yearning for.

She stood up and brought his small hand in hers. "Come on, let's go. I'm sure you must be hungry for breakfast," she chimed.

Naruto promptly followed her out the door babbling along the way.

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 **Author's Note:** It has been a bit slow-paced thus far, however, I have so much more in store for you all. Reviews would be lovely.


	3. Chapter 2: Can the Circle be Unbroken?

**Chapter Two: Can the Circle be Unbroken?**

 _"I'm only human can't you see? I made a mistake. I got it, I'll never be like you."_

* * *

"Remember, what is most important is the art of deception. That is always one thing that has proved to be one of the most integral aspects of being a shinobi from what I have gathered throughout the years. And believe me, I have quite a lot of experience on these things," Teresa explained as she turned another page on the _Konohagakure no Sato: A History_ book.

The both of them had been brushing up on the story of the Warring States Era and how it involved tactical espionage as one of its most used battle strategies. She had been reading the book to Naruto for the better part of the afternoon after they had finished painting the last room in their house from two days of non-stop working—on Teresa's part mostly, being that Naruto tired out too quickly or simply lost interest.

Since Naruto was still too young to be practicing in the actual applications of combat, Teresa saw to it that she teach him the basic history of the village, the basics of chakra, and the more logistical approach of hand-to-hand combat for the time being.

Thus far, she was able to read to him every day and night with practical application books on ninjutsu and taijutsu. The more intricate subsets of these forms of combat would be something she would teach him later on once he finally had adequate control of his chakra.

"Deception means hiding stuff, right?" He questioned as he looked up from the book.

"Not necessarily, no. The art of deception stems from the word deceive and to deceive means to trick. Do you understand?"

He stared at her for quite a bit, contemplating her words, before nodding his head. "Why do we need to trick? Do we trick when we fight? Is that what shinobi do?"

"Yes, precisely. We use the art of stealth—concealing weapons, using trickery, hiding our true potential, all in the hopes to deceive the enemy. This was a concept I once was unused to when I first started off... _here_ ," she said softly.

She watched as his eyes lit up in excitement while he scooted closer to her atop their perch on their front porch. "Does that mean you used to fight differently?"

Her eyes momentarily averted from his as she looked out towards the distance. From beyond the vicinity of their home, the mid-afternoon sun shone brightly casting a glow upon the main road that led towards the marketplace. Passersby strode past the road chatting amongst themselves and going about their daily business.

It was a picturesque scene of a village at peace.

She would have never imagined herself in a place so tranquil and at ease, when places like her old realm had once existed in its place. She was glad Naruto would never know the evil that she had once upon a time beckoned towards her like an old friend.

"...Before any of this, before I even knew what a shinobi was, things were much different. The art of being a warrior was more simple, more gritty. There was not much knowledge or use of deception. Though, let it be said that the organization in which I learned the tricks of my trade from, had conditioned its warriors to be quite adept at reconnaissance and espionage—but not to the extent of how the shinobi use these skills," Teresa mused.

Naruto shrugged, not really understanding her words. "Sounds like a cool place."

She arched her eyebrow curiously at his oblivious response. Despite this, it eased her qualms knowing that every time she would remark about her past, the boy was far too young to even understand the implications of her words. Often times she would speak freely, unfiltered, and he would simply nod his head as if in understanding.

"It sure was an intriguing place, much more dark, something out of a nightmare. I suppose you could consider that," she paused. "...cool." Though she could hardly call it anything but.

"You know what else is cool?" He began. "Punching holes on the floor and stuff and, and breaking things!" He brought his hands up in emphasis, mimicking punches in the air. "I wanna punch stuff like the way you do and kick like _whoosh!"_

She smirked before resting her weight on her elbows to lean back as she watched the boy proceed to sloppily throw punches and kicks in the air.

"Soon," she replied. "Soon, you will be able to. Once you learn how to control your chakra because in order to be able to apply that much force through your attacks, you must learn to control and concentrate your chakra enough to leave lasting damage on your opponents when in combat. You do this through chakra. You remember what that is, correct?"

He paused. "Umm, umm... It's the energy in all living things, right?"

"Yes. Do you remember where it originates from within the body?"

He pointed at himself and ran his finger down his forehead, to his chest, and then back to his sternum. "The chakra pathway, the, uh...tenketsu? Where, uh, chakra runs through a special set of nodes and stuff."

"Yes, you are correct, Naruto. Good job for remembering," she commended and to which he grinned.

"The chakra pathway is something unique to each individual and his or her tenketsu has chakra that runs through various nodes. Once you are able to detect chakra, you will be able to distinguish different chakra auras if you hone your perception skills enough."

"But when will I get to do that?"

"In due time...with much practice of course."

He frowned before standing up to to stomp his feet. "But I wanna do that nooow!"

Teresa shook her head disapprovingly. "No whining, Naruto. You sound like a brat. You don't want that, do you? Acting like a spoiled child will get you nowhere, haven't I taught you better?" She reprimanded firmly.

A horrified expression crossed his soft features and he quickly shook his head. "N-No, I don't wanna be a brat I'm sorry! I won't do it again, I promise!"

"Good. Now sit down so I can explain a few things, alright?"

"Okay," he nodded before plopping down on his perch once more.

"Well, now I'm sure you understand that the path towards becoming a shinobi is not an easy one, Naruto. Patience is an attribute you should be well acquainted with because you will most definitely find yourself making many blunders along the way," she said softly as she patted him lightly on the head. "I am sorry for being stern with you. However, it is because I want you to know that whining is not acceptable, especially when we start your training. Will you accept my apology, Naruto?"

"Yeah," he nodded meekly.

"Alright, now, let's talk about the chakra pathway..." She gave him a calculating look before deciding it fine to continue. "...As I said before, each individual possesses their own special pathway unique to themselves. It would be beneficial for you if you understand and locate where your tenketsu runs so you will be able to use it in the most effective way possible. Would you like to know how yours works?"

"But how can we tell though?"

"Well, since I am a much more experienced kunoichi myself, I possess the skill to be able to read and detect a person's chakra pathway right down to the very last minute detail. Would you like to know where your pathway runs throughout your body?"

"Yeah!" he replied eagerly.

"Well then, you must sit still as I do this," she directed before narrowing her eyes in concentration.

As she did this, the sight of all different colors of the spectrum appeared all around her from the ki being emitted from the earth, to the insects, and then to the boy across from her.

Teresa smiled faintly as she recognized the flow of chakra that ran through his body, however it soon had disappeared once she noticed the distinct mark of raw, ferocious chakra that overpowered all others and emanated from his core—right where the kyuubi had been sealed. She could feel the familiar power of the demonic chakra bubbling within. This was the same ki that had run through her own pathway as well being that she had somehow maintained some semblance of her yoki.

"You're chakra pathway runs through here," she said placing her hand on his chest and leading it along his sternum and down towards his arms. "And here and here." Her hand then landed on his hand. "The tenketsu is especially concentrated on your hands, that's good."

"What does that mean?"

"It simply means that your nodes are found in the places I've pointed towards. And where the node is, the chakra flows through in concentrations. Soon you will learn how to control its movement within you to ultimately help aid you in executing various styles of combat from taijutsu, to ninjutsu, and later, to specialized ninjutsu."

"Ohh..." the boy nodded in awe.

"Do you want to know what color your chakra signature appears to be?"

"Yeah, yeah! What color is it? What color?"

Teresa laughed. "Hm, from what I can see, your chakra appears to be an iridescent blue... However, it is tinged with red."

"That's so cool!"

Teresa smiled, however the smile could not quite reach her eyes as she pondered the reason as to why his chakra was comprised of its strong red demonic nuance. This was something that she would have to explain to him in the near future.

Losing interest in her short lesson, Naruto drew away from Teresa and toddled off into the corner. She watched as he laid himself on the porch flat on his stomach, seeming to have temporarily lost interest in the discussion of chakra, while he rested his chin on his stubby hands to fixate his attention back to the Konoha history book. This particular book had thankfully contained a plethora of pictures and illustrations that could easily capture a child's attention.

"Do you want to finish reading by yourself, Naruto?" she questioned.

"Mhm," he hummed in reply.

"Then I suppose I'll leave you to it," she laughed lightly as she placed her hand on his head to stroke the soft blond tufts.

Teresa looked up towards the main road once more, watching the various villagers both shinobi and civilian alike. She wondered what it would have been if she only knew peace like this. If only she knew a life so simple in a haven where very little malignancy touched its soils. It was the sweet life, she would most definitely concur.

However, this world had its shortcomings as well—it had pain, violence, and could be just as grim as her old realm.

And yet, the world was somehow brighter here. The sun seemed to scintillate more vividly, the flora seemed greener, the fauna—more lively. And as she averted her eyes to gaze down at her ward, she could only smile wistfully at the thought.

It was better here and she had no more burdens to linger on.

Although, there was an odd comfort in dwelling on the past. To be able to keep the greying medium of her purgatory in her thoughts was what gave her solace in the night. The memories kept her grounded, they reassured her that the world she lived in was tangible and not a transient moment that could slip away from her vice-like grasp within the blink of an eye.

And so, as she drifted off in daydream with her child by her side, she thought of the last place on that earth that would hold a candlelight to Konoha.

The holy city of Rabona was a sanctuary in the hellish chasm of which innocents were reduced to cowering at the sight of yoma. Man needed a refuge to pray to their God and escape the encumbering burdens of evil for he was far too weak to bear the weight of it all by himself. The solution to this problem was the creation of the holy city, a realm in which man could feign ignorance and continue to live their lives unburdened by the anxieties that posed a threat to their existence.

The warriors of the organization were not allowed to enter the city, for the clergy had thought it be unacceptable for _"impure heathens"_ such as them to _"taint the sanctified grounds."_ Therefore, Teresa would often enter in disguise, hidden under thick cloths with her yoki suppressed, just to get a glimpse of the peaceful city—a haven where men, women, and children would traverse without a care in the world. It paralleled Konoha in so many ways...

Too engrossed in her own dwellings, Teresa did not realize the figure approaching the main road until she felt his chakra signature distantly heading towards their direction. Noting the familiarity of the signature, she looked up knowing full well who was coming their way. With a grimace she unconsciously drew Naruto closer to her side and the boy squeaked in surprise.

Sensing her mild apprehension, the boy looked up at her inquisitively. "What's wrong?" He queried before turning his head towards the approaching figure.

He came strolling towards their path with an austere gait, one she was all too familiar in associating him with. His towering figure, though weakened and decrepit from age, still held its dominance with each long stride. She could feel the earth trembling under such sudden use of deliberate force as he poured in diminutive traces of chakra in each of his steps to solidify his stance.

Danzo Shimura would have been a fairly formidable opponent for all things worth. He was stern, powerful, and severe with both his words and actions. However, he was her grandfather, her kin. And blood, it would seem, was much thicker than water.

"Who's that?" Naruto whispered as he quickly retreated to hide behind her back.

Teresa sighed before turning towards him with a weary smile. _"That is my grandfather..."_

She braced herself, not sure if she was mentally prepared with interacting with her grandfather after all these years.

"Ah, so the rumors are true," were his first words as he halted directly in front of her porch. "It breaks my heart to know that I only catch word of my granddaughter's return through simple word-of-mouth. Is it not deplorable? Knowing that she failed to even greet me upon her return. You must bear some sort of grievance towards me enough to avoid me for all these weeks."

"Good afternoon, grandfather," Teresa greeted monotonously.

He grunted in response.

"I believe you misunderstand my actions, for I did not deliberately avoid our meeting. Unfortunately, it would seem that I had gotten caught up in a myriad responsibilities the moment I stepped back onto Konoha soils," she continued.

"And what sort of responsibilities do you speak of, pray tell, granddaughter?"

"Well, as you can see, and to which I suppose you most likely know by now, I am now responsible for a child —" Naruto peeked out from behind her back to catch a glimpse of her grandfather. The man in turn widened his eyes in surprise. "—And in addition to having to now care for a child, I must now find a way to balance child-rearing with missions and it is quite an impossible feat. I now understand why many shinobi and kunoichi retire after starting a family."

"Hm, yes, it would seem that you are now in possession of the jinchuriki. My ANBU have been keeping a close eye on you," the old man conceded.

"As they should be. It is their job, is it not?"

"Indeed. However... I did not come here to discuss our grievances towards one another. In fact, I came here to discuss your current situation—the Kyuubi is now in your possession, Teresa-chan. The implications of this fact are quite heavy."

"And by that, you mean?"

"I want possession of the Kyuubi," he said blankly. "There is no one else more qualified than a man such as myself to keep the Kyuubi under my control. It would most definitely benefit the village if I, Danzo Shimura, the eyes and ears of this village, to condition the jinchuriki under what we see fit. The process of conditioning is one I am all too familiar with since the conception of ROOT. I can mould the jinchuriki and we can militarize it under Konoha control."

"Excuse me?" She nearly gasped, bewildered at his bold statements. Her grasp on Naruto now became unnervingly protective and he stared at the two adults in awe.

"The other hidden villages have took to utilizing their jinchuriki to their full potential. I don't understand why Konoha has not picked up on the trend. Mere bias and aversion towards the Kyuubi is foolish," he reasoned.

"Naruto is not some object to be used to your liking," Teresa spat before covering her hands over said boy's ears. "He is the Fourth Hokage's legacy...and now, _he is my son._ If you truly adhered to familial code, you would see that he too is your grandchild—not some weapon. How dare you think you can dehumanize my child in this foolish argument of yours. He is a child of Konoha, he is a child of the Shimura clan now, and above all, _he is my child_."

"The Yondaime was a foolish boy unfit to rule the village. His premature death is a testament to this. I could care less if the jinchuriki was his child or not."

"And would you have cared less if I was your son, my father's child, or not?"

"You are different. You have my blood running through your veins," Danzo bellowed.

"There is no difference. A child is a child. I am tired of you and this entire village's nonchalance towards breeding child soldiers as cannon fodder. What sort of twisted perception is this? How can you objectify a human being, a child, and turn them into a weapon?"

Danzo's eyes went ablaze. "How could you possess the audacity to speak ill of the village? This is your home. You should be supporting Konoha, every action, every thing you do should be for the benefit of the village. That is your will of fire, that is your main prerogative as a citizen of Konoha!"

"I do not fight for the name of the village. Trivialities like that are redundant and prove no meaning in the grand scheme of all things. I fight for the people within the village. I think it is time you start viewing your every decision not just to benefit the village, but rather to benefit those you care for who live in it. The glory of war and power is meaningless."

"Is this what you learned from being away for so long?" He queried in shock. "I knew I should have never sent you out to Kirigakure. I knew that they'd taint your perception and twist it to the point of which you cease to care for your own village."

"I assure you that I have formed these opinions myself without any help from any man, no less any rivaling villages. Do you think me a fool who so easily bends under simple indoctrination? How little do you think of me? I've seen far more brutalities, far more things than you would ever know in your lifetime. How dare you underestimate my intelligence so easily."

"Then why are you disobeying me, Teresa-chan?" His voice sounded unnaturally softer and she could hear the silent plea under his words.

"I was not born to follow any man's dictations, nor was I put on this earth to follow you, grandfather. I think it is time you realized that," she replied in all apathy.

The look of shock on his eyes did not go unnoticed.

She could see that the superficial blow to his ego was something that he was unfamiliar to. However, underneath the shallow blow to his pride, she saw much more than that. Teresa could see the raw, unadulterated hurt hidden underneath the veil and she could just see the cogs in his mind turning in a frenzied pace as he scrambled to piece everything together from falling apart.

She knew that, despite his cold and calculative demeanor, Shimura Danzo for all things worth was anything but an apathetic man. He felt with his emotions just as much as any other man or woman. He was just as human as anyone else.

Her eyes glossed over and something painful struck at her chords. Was this what empathy felt like?

"Grandfather, I think it's best if you leave now," she whispered. "Naruto is my child now and I hope you understand that I will not allow you near him if you only wish to harm him. I will never let you militarize and objectify him further, this village has already done enough in doing so."

Teresa let go of Naruto's ears before carefully scooping him up in her arms to retreat back inside their home. She could feel her grandfather's eyes boring holes into her back as she walked away and shut the door.

* * *

At night, as she tucked Naruto in bed, the boy decided to finally question her on their afternoon encounter with the Shimura patriarch.

"Why don't you like your grandpa?" He asked innocently.

She pulled the sheets over his body and sighed. "He's not a very good man, Naruto. A person who sees others as weapons, as objects, should be considered... Let's just say, someone who fails to see someone for what they are worth in the most qualitative sense is not a very good person."

"Huh?"

She gave him a grave look and leveled towards him in all seriousness. "Naruto, listen to me. Never objectify a human being, never view someone as a means for your own personal gain. It is wrong, it is unethical."

She could only be reminded of the many times she had been used in this very same manner and how, at times, she had used others as well. The hypocrisy she had been displaying for the better part of her life was a shortcoming she so desperately wanted to fix, and so, she was currently in the process of doing so. Teresa sought to break the unending cycle and she hoped that she could live this dream vicariously through the child in her arms.

"Uh, what's that mean?"

"It means, never view anyone less than what they are. No human being is a weapon or thing. They have thoughts, emotions, and so much more than something so simplified. Do you understand?"

He gave her a contemplative look before nodding his head resolutely. "Okay," he said.

"Okay," she nodded before standing up. "Well, then...Goodnight, Naruto."

"Goodnight."

And as she slowly closed the door shut she could only pray that he would take her words to heart.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Sloppily written on one take, but I wanted to get the wheels turning. Loved each and every single one of your reviews and I am glad that you all continue to follow me on this journey! I promise that I will deliver. Love you all.


	4. Chapter 3: The Summon and the Masked Man

**Chapter Three: The Summon and the Masked Man**

 _"Dear moon, we blame you for floods, for the flush of blood, for men who are also wolves. We blame you for the night, for the dark, for the ghosts."_

* * *

The mid-afternoon sun blazed wildly on the land, bathing Konoha in its synonymous summer heat.

She could see from a distance, the heat casting its illusions across the earth as she traversed the outside of the village's borders—giving false hope of some sort of absolution from its sinfully scathing rays. It did not matter anyway, withstanding unbearable weather conditions was apart of her very training, it was ingrained in her soul even.

She sighed as she brushed past another seemingly lifeless area in the forest. There was no sign of any significant chakra signatures or hidden nin, besides the scant few fauna of the forest. It was quite mundane.

Teresa was assigned border patrol due to the mere fact that she was still on the roster despite having been given the duty to now raise a child. It would seem that no shinobi was withheld from village obligations, regardless if one were to have barely returned or if one were to somehow have a child unceremoniously dropped upon their lap. She would not have it any other way, however, being that her muscles would often ache for some form of action nowadays. Simple border patrol would appease her hunger for battle she supposed. And thus, Teresa ambled on, in spite of herself.

The lone sound of her sandals crunching on fallen pine needles and leaves was all that accompanied her as she trekked forth, and in an odd sort of way, it was comforting.

In retrospect, it reminded her of the times in which she would travel on her lonesome with not a care in her mind—having only one objective, to seek out yoma and kill them without further questioning. Perhaps it was her habitual use of routine that drew her to continue this tradition as a kunoichi under Konohagakure no Sato, for if she had it any other way, she would invariably end up traveling her own path of self-governance. However, Teresa was never one to truly follow rules, nor was she one to ever truly follow orders.

In all technicality, Teresa had spent the better part of both of her lives rebelling against her superiors, often speaking truth to power in her own anarchist way. Time softened those edges through a gradual effect, along with a few heartbreaks. And so, she learned. And persevered. And finally, lived to understand that most things are not everlasting—whether it be time, life, or even people. Rebelling against the fates could only prove detrimental in her cause, thus, she realized if she allowed the currents to direct her in her path towards anything and everything, she would now take it at face value.

Much like the way she opted on now taking the most simple things at face value, one of which was border patrol.

Though seemingly redundant, since there was no sign of foreign nin from even a hundred-sixty kilometer radius, she still followed her orders like the proper soldier she was. It was the right thing to do, for the time being. Furthermore, it was the right thing to do now that she could no longer act on her lonesome as the silver-eyed maverick she had come to be—she had responsibilities that tied her down, a child often complicated things.

A few ways past her current path, Teresa could see a clearing from the towering pine trees where a flat grassy horizon lay. In there, she had felt a small flicker of chakra unique to all the life forms surrounding her, and so, her senses led her towards that very path. From what she could sense, the signature was approximately eighty kilometers away in a latitude of about ten degrees north from her current position.

Though quite faint, she could feel the ki pulsating in the air, to the point of it making barely traceable undulations on the earth—a tell-tale sign of a possible threat.

With little effort, Teresa sped towards the source within seconds, set on striking whoever lay in her path. However...

What met her sight between her blade and mid-strike, was a large bird of prey precariously perched almost menacingly atop of a tree branch. Her sword never made direct contact and she had quickly sheathed the blade just as fast as she had taken it out—for she was never one to harm creatures that were harmless to her person.

"What on earth?" She muttered under her breath as she warily eyed the bird.

It stood on its perch in resolution, simply holding her gaze, as if it were gauging her every move.

The bird itself, she could tell was that of an eagle—large in appearance and bestowed with a heavy build. Its entire body was covered in sleek white feathers that were gilded at the tips of its broad wingspan. So immense was its stature, that it was almost as tall as her—and she knew for a matter of fact that if it were to spread its wings, it would most definitely be larger.

The wings itself were broad, almost box-like, coupled with a bill that looked as sharp as her very blade. If she were to be quite honest in her own observations, she would remark on the sheer power the avian emanated, from its broad chest to the gilded feathers that covered its body in its entirety. It was majestic even.

Finally, to her surprise, the bird had cocked its head towards her and spoke.

 _"You're quite powerful, aren't you?"_ It questioned.

From the soft lilt of its voice, Teresa had deduced it to be a female.

"And what makes you think that?" Teresa countered with an arched brow.

"I could feel you pouring out your chakra into the earth even as you traveled hundreds of miles away. That is quite a clever technique for a shinobi, though dangerous as it can attract potential predators...and enemies. This technique, it's almost animalistic I would say—like marking your territory to frighten your prey," the eagle replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Well, your observations are quite astute. It is a threatening tactic. I pour out a diminutive amount of my innate yoki, or in this case, demonic chakra," Teresa confirmed. "The raw energy often scares people and animals away... The smart ones, I mean. The others who fail to detect the threat, end up treading dangerous waters."

The eagle chuckled at this. "It would seem that you are much more powerful than I thought. What is your name, shinobi?"

Teresa frowned, but decided there was not much to lose in divulging some information about herself to the winged animal. After all, what was left to say other than all the information that was already written into every single bingo book put into circulation? Not much if one were to take all things into consideration.

"I am Shimura Teresa, kunoichi of Konoha, and kin of the Shimura clan. As you can see—" she gestured towards her sword "—I am known throughout the hidden villages to be particularly skilled in the art of swordsmanship, or, kenjutsu."

"Ah, a swordsman? And, hmm... _Silver eyes and white hair_..." The eagle murmured as it cocked its head to study her once more. "Ah, you must be the _Silver-Eyed Witch,_ aren't you? I've heard many tales about you through whispers in the wind. They say you're one of the fiercest swordsmen to ever walk the lands, that you can crush a man's skull with the pinch of a finger. Your strength is quite legendary."

"It would seem my reputation precedes me... However, I find it quite strange that an animal possesses knowledge of my person. I didn't think your kind actually paid any sort of attention to man and their current issues, as such."

The bird spread its wings and Teresa marveled at its sheer size as it descended onto the ground and right in front of her. So large, the mere silhouette of its winged body encompassed a large area of ground.

"Your reputation is the stuff of legends," the bird replied in reverence. "In our kingdom, we hear about all types of shinobi—men and women, good and evil, or perhaps, misunderstood. We too are aware of the various villages you all hail from, this information is something we often happen to catch wind of."

"Is that so? Well, I think it should only be fair that I know who you are, seeing that you know my name. So, tell me, what do they call you?"

The eagle bowed its head slightly, ruffling its wings in the process. " _I am Sorano._ I am known as what they call, the crowned eagle. I hail from atop the highest cliffs where the waterfalls crest peak into the clouds. In there, my kind nest on the rocks and flourish in the sky, that is our domain, therein the spiritual realm."

Teresa furrowed her brows. "A bit vague, but not something that should be dwelled upon...Tell me, why are you here?"

"I was drawn to an immense source of energy. The flow of ki was quite unique in that it had called upon my instinctual senses so easily. It beckoned me to follow it and now, I'm here."

"And so? What is it you seek, do you wish to battle me?" Teresa chuckled.

The eagle cocked its head in confusion before shaking it profusely. "No, you must mistake me for a fool. I don't wish to fight you, warrior, I wish to offer you my services. If you allow me to shadow under your power, I will allow you to shadow under my wing, so to speak. It is a symbiosis I seek, in which I find a warrior as powerful enough for me to serve."

Teresa looked grimly upon the animal, she could only deduce this from the moment she had sensed its unique chakra _. "You are a summon, aren't you?"_

"Not quite. In order to be a summon, I must have a summoner," the raptor replied.

"Truly, do you believe me to be suitable for such a position?" Teresa queried in sarcasm. "What if I was not who you thought me to be? For all you know, I'm just another kunoichi with a sword. Releasing chakra to frighten the enemy is something common among shinobi, you know."

"Far from it, warrior. I am an organism with the potential to be a summon. Analyzing an individual's chakra reserves to the very last detail is my specialty in order for me to seek potential summoners. And you, warrior, possess a ki unlike any other save for the tailed-beasts. You have demonic chakra, I can feel it."

"Well," she shrugged. "Then what is it you want?"

The bird continued to eye her inquisitively. "I want to make a contract with you. Plain and simple."

"Shouldn't it be the other way around? Often times it is the shinobi who seeks to bargain with a summon to create a contract."

"Well, you're different," the eagle replied. "Your ample chakra reserves and restrained sheer power can complement myself as a summon. Your energy, it is what drew me towards your path. I have never found another suitable candidate for the past century. Please, I implore you to accept my offer."

Teresa crossed her arms in contemplation. From the way she saw it, there was nothing to lose, and only something to gain. Perhaps summoning a contract with this raptor could prove to be beneficial for her in the long run. And when she thought about it, having a summon to learn from and work with would help enhance her abilities if she truly played her cards right.

"Well, if you really wish for me to become your summoner, I'd like to have a good idea on what you're strength and skills entail. Tell me, will you be able to fully complement my style of combat? My specialties are nintaijutsu and kenjutsu, my chakra affinities include wind and fire, however I am most proficient in wind. I have a myriad specialty skills that I will only give you access to if in the case we are to create a contract... But one thing you must know is that my yoki _, no,_ my demonic chakra reserves are far more immense than what you can even imagine. What you were feeling moments ago when I released diminutive amounts of it to the earth was but a nth of a fraction of what I can actually release. That amount of yoki can potentially harm you if you cannot complement my power, do you understand?"

"Of course I knew the implications of your power, warrior! I'm no average summon myself, we eagles form quite a formidable set of summons—we've been around since the goddess devoured the chakra fruit, we've seen dynasties fall, lived through more eras than you can count, we've seen some of the most powerful beings to ever walk this earth perish, we have seen it all. There are others like me that you too can form a contract with, raptors that vary in strength and might as well," the bird continued. "As for my ability to work with you, I believe both you and I have found perfect candidates in one another. I am an avian, I control the winds under my wings, I have the ability to teach you more about your affinity than you can even imagine to the point where you can go beyond utilizing it as a mere strength. My talons are some of the most sharpest blades in the world, therefore I may know a thing or two about swordsmanship and its logistics."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, and additionally, as a summon, I can teach you much more about nature chakra and the elements that make up the world in its entirety. I've been here since the beginning of time, my reserves of knowledge are as endless as they are beneficial."

"It seems as if this union may benefit me more than it will benefit you. Didn't you wish to create a symbiosis?"

"On the contrary, warrior. Finding a candidate who can equal me in strength and power is something that will benefit me above all else. I haven't found someone like you in years, centuries, despite the fact that there is an endless pool of potential at my grasp. _You_ —you are unlike any other. I sense not only physical power within you, I sense something that transcends that, I sense something spiritual. You must have something within you, that allows you to stand out, and I have a feeling you're aware of it."

"Spiritual, hm?" Teresa frowned.

Could it be that the raptor had a feeling that she was not originally from this world? Perhaps this was what this spiritual power had been, the fact that the fates had reincarnated her into a new realm.

"Yes, you have a strong connection with the spiritual beings—these are the gods that created existence. We animals are more attuned to their presence than man is, that is why we exist on the spiritual realm. We are what the foundations of the elements have been built upon."

"Ah, so you've sensed it. I'm sure you know that my circumstances are much more different then," she said knowingly.

"Yes, so please, accept my offer. It will be a most advantageous union, this I promise you."

Teresa nodded her head, having made up her mind. "Fine, I accept," she acquiesced.

The winged animal's eyes lit up in delight before she flapped her wings, bringing in a strong gust of wind almost akin to a violent maelstrom, bringing in leaves and debris to be thrown across every which way. As she brought her wings down, the wind desisted and a long piece of golden parchment appeared between them in the winds wake.

"Now," the eagle began excitedly," This is your contract, you must sign your name across the scroll with your blood to officiate the binding between you and I. Preferably, biting your thumb to draw blood is the easiest way. After which you have signed your name, you must place your fingerprints upon it, this will seal the deal making it valid."

Teresa unsheathed her blade and swiftly cut the skin of her palm, watching the deep red blood gush out of the thin slit in indifference. She dipped her finger in the pool of blood that had collected on her palm and silently kneeled over to sign her name upon the script. After finishing this, she pressed her digits upon the paper.

"Now, you must perform the hand seals—boar, dog, monkey, and ram," the bird instructed. "You must use the remaining blood that you have drawn to finish this step. Mould a great deal of your chakra with each seal, this will strengthen the bond."

Promptly, Teresa did as she was told and formed the given hand seals in seconds whilst releasing a quarter of both her innate chakra and the demonic chakra that had been laced within. The ground began to quake at the release of her yoki and the eagle blanched.

"This...this chakra it is enormous. It-It feels as if the air itself is heavier, good Kami, is this what your true potential truly is?" The raptor remarked in awe as it stepped back from her. "It is mighty, almost suffocating...however,strangely enough, it is peaceful yet so massive as if it's an all encompassing sea—tranquil, but enormous nonetheless."

Teresa closed her eyes and ceased in releasing her energy as she finished the last step in signing the contract. "It is but a fourth of my yoki, if I were to unleash the entire thing I... I'm not sure how I nor anyone around me would be able to handle it. _I've never released it all..._ That is why I must practice in restraint," Teresa bowed her head before standing up to face her new summon.

"Kami... I knew I picked the best candidate the moment I felt your spiritual presence. I must thank you for accepting my offer, I hope that this union will lead to a growth in both our developments," the eagle beamed.

"Now this means we are bound, aren't we?" Teresa smirked.

 _"Yes, we are."_

Teresa smiled at her newfound summon. It would seem this was the beginning of a new friendship.

* * *

She left Sorano with the promise of returning at a checkpoint near the borders and the forest so they would be able to depart towards the eagle's domain in a few days time. The avian had told her that establishing herself among the other summons would allow her to create contracts with more summons overtime—thus, she would be able to eventually utilize all of the Eagles in all their potential.

Meanwhile, Teresa set off to continue her patrol, still not having found a single disturbance within the area.

However, she did feel a group of returning Konoha nin approaching far away from her path noting the subtle signatures with an aura synonymous to the village—this was a feat she had developed through the years, being able to discern various chakra signatures to the point where she could tell from which each individual hailed from.

Though each shinobi and individual's chakra signature was unique in it of themselves, a trace of their own village's aura would somehow lace itself within the natural coils of their pathway. She now understood the meaning of the illusive _," Will of Fire"_ that all the elder nin had often spoke about—for it was a literal fragment of energy that managed to somehow slip its way into the heart of each and every individual of the village. They probably never knew this, but the idea that a small piece of force had linked each villager together in the most diminutive, almost untraceable way was tried and true.

She wondered if this was what the founders of Konoha had foresaw. Perhaps Senju Hashirama's moniker as the _God of Shinobi_ held every bit of truth.

Teresa sighed as she shook her head, wanting to break herself off from her reverie.

She gazed towards the setting sun and sighed, knowing that it was time to return to the border patrol post to deliver her assessment of the day. Stretching her unused limbs, still aching for some action, Teresa ambled towards the patrol post in dissatisfaction.

After delivering her reports to the head of BP in the post, Teresa left the office with the order to inform the hokage of her new summoning contract the next day, and stumbled upon Sen on her way from the post. He too had just finished his rounds in the border patrol watchtower and decided to accompany her on her short trek back to the village gates.

"It's been an uneventful day..." Teresa drawled. "Sometimes I miss the excitement of war, the battles... Even being in Kiri had led to constant action. But here, it's a bit _too peaceful."_

Sen laughed.

"You're the first person I've ever heard of complain about the peace, Teresa-chan...But, that does bring up the question, I wonder when hokage-sama'll actually put you in serious mission rotations rather than throwing you in random domestic missions," he frowned as he walked with her in tandem. "There's no use in wasting one of Konoha's greatest kunoichi through issuing them pencil-pusher missions."

"Well, I suppose he'll start me on larger-scale field missions once I enroll my ward into the academy. I think in a few months I just might, if he's fully prepared that is."

"Oh, yeah, speakin' of the little bugger, how is he?"

"He's doing fine, still adjusting to a real home. Despite this, he latched onto me quite fast, and he's grown on me immensely in turn," she smiled. "Yesterday, he finally was able to hit his first target. His trajectory skills are improving each day, though we still need to work on finding and controlling his large chakra reserves. He struggles, but I know he'll get there."

"Wow, sounding like a proud parent there, Teresa-chan," Sen beamed before placing a warm hand on her shoulder. "Glad you're able to teach the little guy a thing or two, Kami knows without you, he'd probably be stuck in an orphanage or under someone else's care." He shuddered at the thought and Teresa chuckled slightly at this.

"Yes, it was a blessing for the both of us, I suppose. He needed someone to be there for him, and I needed someone too," she said in all honesty.

Teresa was glad that her former teammate was but one of the few people who approved of Naruto without holding any bias towards him due to the beast that was sealed within him.

Only a few others had genuinely liked the boy, that being her father Takahiro, her mother Ikumi, Kurenai, Sen, the Ramen stand owner Teuchi, and then there was the hokage. The list was small, however it meant the world to Naruto that there was a small collection of people who held no animosity towards him, that much she knew. Teresa had yet to expose him to any other children his age, so that would be a whole different scenario altogether.

"He's a good kid," Sen added.

 _"I'm sure he is,"_ a deep voice muttered behind them and Sen whirled around in surprise.

Having sensed him miles away, Teresa simply eyed the lurking figure impassively. His chakra had been suppressed, but she sensed it nonetheless despite how skilled he was at concealing it.

She let her gaze fall towards the silver-haired jounin. It had been years since she had truly looked at him, for their last encounter all those months ago when she went to Ichiraku's with Naruto was far too short and concise for her to even fully pay attention to him.

He had grown quite tall, as tall as she, and though he carried himself in a lackadaisical manner making his posture seem lanky, she knew that hidden underneath it all that he was far more capable than he let on. No longer was his visage stern like the time of his boyhood, rather, his countenance held a bored expression—and not in a condescending way. If someone were to tell her that Kakashi were to grow up to appear this way, she would have scoffed. His whole demeanor exuded laziness, it almost baffled her.

"Ah, Kakashi, I was wondering why you were following us from the patrol tower. Did you need something?" Teresa greeted nonchalantly.

"Evening," he greeted back lightly.

Sen frowned slightly before shaking his head. "Kakashi-san, why were you following us?"

He scratched the back of his head and squinted his eyes in what appeared to be a half-hearted smile.

"Ah, my bad, I just wanted to talk to Teresa while I was on my way home. I had something I wanted to ask her for quite a long time and I haven't been able to since my schedule has been nothing short of hectic. You know how dealing with genin teams are, don't you?" he replied in feigned politeness.

Sen nodded his head in understanding. "I understand completely, man! That's why I quit the genin sensei gig for border patrol, it's a whole lot better than what you have to put up with. Though I heard you haven't officially picked up a team yet, been failing all of the little snots, haven't 'ya?"

"Yeah, just haven't found the right team is all. Seems like a lot of the academy graduates have been a bit subpar as of late. They're just not ready," he shrugged.

Teresa cleared her throat, causing the two men to halt in their small talk. Sen gave a lopsided smile before waving slightly.

"Guess I'd better get going, huh? Well, I'll see 'ya later Teresa-chan, okay? And, uh, tell Naruto-chan I said hey!" He called out before shunshining away and leaving her in a quite awkward dilemma being stuck with Kakashi.

Teresa sighed in dismay at her friend's hasty departure, before turning back towards the masked man. "You wanted to speak with me, Kakashi?"

"Ah, yes, I did."

"What did you wish to discuss? After all, it must be important enough for you to actually want to speak with me," she said thoughtfully.

The man seemed to have clammed up once she uttered these words. His movements became fidgety and deliberate as he scratched the back of his head in thought—looking as if he was assessing his words carefully.

"I, uh, wanted to talk to you about... Well, how is... How is Minato-sensei's son doing?" He queried as if unsure of his words.

"So, you wanted to know how Naruto was doing?" Teresa smiled slightly at this.

"Yes, after having seen the two of you at the ramen bar all those months ago, I was quite shocked to be honest. Well, it, uh... It surprised me that hokage-sama had entrusted you with Minato-sensei's child, but I understand why caretakers could no longer suffice. The villagers were brutal to the poor kid and...and I know it was wrong on my part for turning a blind eye on him... It was, it was just too difficult—I was going through a hard time during Minato-sensei's death."

"And so you ignored his last living legacy in order to repress the fact that he was gone, I get it," she said blandly. "As much as I wish that there was someone to take care of Naruto earlier on in his development, I can't complain. If it were not for these circumstances, fate would not have brought him to me. It was a blessing, really."

"At the time, I didn't think it was my responsibility," Kakashi reasoned. "But, if I were to be honest, I regret a lot of my actions, er, well, my indirect actions towards him. That's why..."

She understood his grievance, for she had once been put into a situation much like his a long time ago. Holding grief for something out of one's control is something one should never try to dwell on, Obito had taught her that much.

"So that's why you're concerned..." She said softly.

"Hm, well if you must know, he's doing well. He's still trying to get acquainted to the domestic life, living in a facility for the better part of his life had isolated him from the world outside. He has some anxieties from what I can tell, which is something that should be considered unhealthy for a child his age because this anxiety was fostered through maltreatment..." She smiled in spite of herself. "But he hides it well, he tries very hard and it's ultimately helping him. He makes up for these anxieties through his natural vivacity—he's such a happy child."

"You...You don't suppose I see him, just this once or maybe...I-I just wanted to see how he was doing for myself. I think I owe it to Minato-sensei..." Kakashi sighed wistfully at her words.

Teresa's brows raised in surprise. _"Do you want to see him?"_

Kakashi shoved his hands into his pockets and averted his gaze towards the ground. Silently, he nodded at her.

"Well, if you can just follow me home, then that'll be fine. I had a genin team babysit him for me while I was gone all day, I think they've taken a shine to him. I'm sure he's been waiting all day for my return," she replied as she led him towards the entrance of the village and down a path near the main road.

"He seems to have grown attached to you, huh?" He chuckled.

"It would seem so. From the moment I met him, we had this, this connection. I realized that I needed to be there for him, to help see him grow and flourish. And I know that... I need him there, I need his presence as much as he needs mine."

The last person she had grown this sort of attachment towards was Obito and she was sure her words implied that very fact.

Kakashi gave her a sideways look having caught on to her words and she caught his glance in return.

His eyes conveyed a look of sadness that she herself had felt deep within the very surface of her bones. A silent apology, he proposed, with so many words left unsaid that resonated into her own stream of consciousness. If she could read between the lines, between the tension that was so palpable in the air, perhaps she would find the words _," I'm sorry for what happened. Sorry, for what I've done. I'm sorry for letting you down, moreover, I'm sorry for letting Obito down."_

They exchanged a look of understanding—one that conveyed a silent message towards one another. It reminded her all too much of the moment they had shared all those years ago when she looked him in the eye and implored him to keep a promise, a promise that he protect Obito to the best of his ability. The memory had left a bitter taste in her mouth, however, and she could not help but be reminded of it.

Teresa frowned at this before quickly averting her gaze. The question was left hanging in the air.

Kakashi sighed. _"I wonder why we never got along when we were younger,"_ he muttered under his breath, trying desperately to change subject. "What happened that made you dislike me so much?"

"Don't forget, you hated me just as much," she humored him before leading him down the main road. "I reciprocated what was given to me."

A contemplative look crossed his features and he furrowed his brows.

"I think it was the competitive streak in me, not to say that you didn't have it too. But... I was always a little bit arrogant when I was a kid. I thought that perhaps if I strictly adhered to the shinobi code, then maybe, I could... Maybe I could bring honor back to my family name. And you—" he said in thought.

"I suppose I was a bit competitive myself, to the point of being smug. I enjoyed beating men in their own games, that was always the rebellious side of me as a child. And of course we would invariably clash, I can't blame you..."

They were simply dancing around the subject of a certain Uchiha—a young man who had once been the medium between their only interactions with another. He was hurt that he had let Obito slip away and she was just as hurt at the prospect of him not trying his best in keeping his promise to Obito's well being. It was all a sick, twisted story between two rivals made even more bitter with the death of a significant figure that had once bound them together.

Be that as it may, Teresa was not quite ready to open that can of worms just yet, and she had a feeling that Kakashi did not want to either.

Consequentially, the two shinobi were left with nothing but small talk, enough to barely address any issues and only scratch the surface of these very problems. Teresa would not have minded any other way—they would discuss that issue another time.

They came across her townhouse by the main road within minutes and she quickly diverted their conversation elsewhere.

"We're here," Teresa muttered quickly before turning towards him. "...Well, while you are here, perhaps you'd like to stay for dinner? I'm sure you'll have plenty to say to Naruto and I'm supposed to be fixing up supper by now."

"Well, uh... No, it's fine," Kakashi hesitated,"...But, I mean, sure I could... Actually, dinner sounds fine I suppose."

Teresa nodded her head before opening the door and ushering the awkward man in.

"I'm home!" She called out and immediately, various footsteps could be heard scrambling down the hall leading towards the main room. Three young genin emerged with an energetic blond following their trail. The little boy came rushing towards Teresa and automatically clung to her legs as he giggled.

"Good evening, Teresa-sama," one of the genin, a young girl, greeted. Her eyes widened as she spotted the famed Sharingan no Kakashi standing only inches away from her.

"Oh, good evening, Kakashi-sensei!" One of the other genin greeted as he vowed profusely towards the lanky man.

"Yo," was the man's response as he waved his hand lightly.

"Thank you for watching Naruto for me," Teresa chuckled as she ruffled Naruto's hair. She then reached towards her kunai pouch and procured her wallet before handing all three of the genin their respective share of ryo.

They quickly bid their farewells and left within minutes, leaving Teresa with her ward and a man who she would have never imagined to ever speak civil towards. Immediately noticing the silver-haired jounin, Naruto glanced up and unlatched himself from her legs to stare at him in awestruck.

"Who's that?" He questioned shyly.

"This here is Hatake Kakashi, he is a...an old comrade of mine," Teresa introduced him as she gestured towards the man. The man in turn waved awkwardly at the boy and gave a light-hearted eye smile.

"Uh, hi," Kakashi greeted.

"Hi, I'm Naruto! If you're mom's comrade, you must be a shinobi like her, right?" He queried excitedly. "I don't get to see all her friends a lot, only Auntie Kurenai and Uncle Sen and-and then there's that mean-faced lady from the uh, the interrogation place too, right ma?" He turned towards Teresa in confirmation and she nodded her head.

 _"Mom?"_ Kakashi murmured under his breath in slight disbelief. Teresa could only guess that he was quite surprised at the thought of his sensei's only son calling her his mother.

"Yes, he addresses me as his mother," Teresa whispered towards Kakashi, quietly enough so that Naruto was unable to hear.

"Does...Does he know...?"

Teresa quickly turned back towards Naruto and smiled. "Why don't you talk to Kakashi while I make dinner?"

"Okay!" He chirped before turning to the man himself and ushering him towards the couch.

Teresa quickly retreated into the kitchen, not wanting to discuss too much with Kakashi at the moment. She could only wonder what Kakashi's first interaction with Naruto would be like...

* * *

 **Author's Note:** This chapter was quite long. I thought it would be nice for Teresa to have control over summons, and because her awakened form was winged, I thought eagles would be quite suitable, though heron was a possibility at one point due to a recommendation I was given. I want to continually tap into all the skills that she acquired over time that I haven't touched base on. Both Teresa and Kakashi by now are 20 and he retired from ANBU in his twenties, thus he was made a genin instructor by this time.

Also, please keep in mind that I haven't read both mangas since they ended two years ago, therefore my memories and the timeline may be inaccurate. If so, please do disregard those small discrepancies.

Reviews would be lovely.


	5. Chapter 4: Where This Flower Blooms

**Chapter Four: Where This Flower Blooms**

"How about your father? Do you know where he is? Do you know...? How about your real parents? Do you know?"

* * *

When she brushed past him to leave him with Naruto, she knew that she would invariably be tossing the first stone towards her condemnation.

She knew that Kakashi would no doubt have questions for the boy and secrets as well—possibly on his true parentage, possibly on anything if she were to be quite honest. He was just like that, a man who so seemed as nonchalant as a ghost in thin air, yet underneath the carefully constructed facade, lay a deviant ready to stir the pot. He would no doubt get the cogs turning from their proverbial cobwebs, let them unfurl from their lack of use for some few years give or take. She felt the suspicion in her bones, right on the very surface.

Of course he would play his role out to every last detail, as if he were a marionette and she the puppeteer who pulled his every string, his every thought. He would be leaning in the cushions of the couch, that pensive look that managed to express itself upon his veiled countenance, as he would rock his weary feet in anxiousness upon the wooden floors.

"So...how are you with your, uh...mother?" He would query.

And Naruto would smile his oblivious smile and babble on about everything and anything. And Kakashi would give him a wry look. Look him straight in the eyes with his laconic grey orbs and he would say," How about your father? Do you know where he is? Do you know...?" How about your real parents? Do you know?

She could see him now, see him casually slip it in as if it were the most normal thing to say in the world. Of course her suspicions would ring true. She was perceptive in all things, including that of the human mind and its abstract thought. Teresa could play out every which scenario vividly in her own mind as they would run circles around and around her head—processing, analyzing.

When she heard him drop the question just as she had foresaw with all his nonchalance, the kettle that had been boiling water on the stove began to whistle. A single droplet of water ran down the translucent surface from the collection of condensation on the lid. She could feel the heat swarming her skin, feel herself almost perspire in her carefully veiled anxiety. The droplets of water kept falling and falling and falling, and suddenly, Teresa felt flustered. With a sigh, she uncovered the lid and and procured three bowls. The timer wrung with a single, ding!

Dinner was served.

* * *

Kakashi did not know when emotions became elusive.

What he did know was that everyone around him had felt the entire spectrum of it, everyone but him. He remembered his father's arms around his neck, like protective barriers that had shielded him from the world. How malicious and cold it was—because once he was gone, he felt it for what it was worth. Mountains too tall to climb. He thought of emotions as weakness, crippling all those who felt it, taking away light and life as much as it gave it.

Why could he not feel it? Why could he not feel? Everyone else could.

He had a dream last night. It was a strange occurrence, an oddity even, for he was never one to dream in colors. He saw his sensei—the man whose visage that haunted him like a spectre in the night. He gave him a look of deep forlorn, with eyes that spoke volumes, and hurt much more than he had realized. His eyes...he knew exactly what Minato wanted to say. Above all, he knew that his grim face was admonishing him for more then his past transgressions.

So when he dreamt of his sensei, he knew what he had asked him to do. He implored him to take grasp of the flames of emotion, he told him to grasp them with zeal. To feel, to see, to understand. He knew what the answer to all his problems had been, and the first step was finding the one person who held the key to it all.

And when he looked into Naruto's eyes, Kakashi could not help but fidget at the prospect of fulfilling his sensei's last wish. "Talk to him," he had said. "Talk to him, for me, please." The implications meant that in time, he too could heal. That in time, he would able to feel relatively normal again, or rather, feel emotion again.

And so Kakashi saw to it that he would fulfill this last wish.

"How do you know my mom, do you work with her a lot?" Naruto queried as he looked up towards him in awe.

Kakashi shook his head slightly, recollecting his bearings, before fixing his attention on the little boy once more.

"...Not particularly...I, uh, used to work with her before," he replied. "Well, once or twice back when we first started off as jounin. I haven't talked to her since then, so... I, uh, thought it would be nice to catch up now, I guess."

He wondered what it would have been like had he told him the truth, if he told him that his adopted mother had haunted him like a spectre for the first few years in which Minato's team had disbanded. How she, the silver-eyed spectre, bore him nothing but strife for the death of Obito and later, Rin—taunting his delicate conscious, whispering deadly words each waking moment. Those few years were tortuous, until he finally learned to let the wounds heal through time and much needed penance.

"Was that a long time ago? Mom said she became a jounin when she was twelve or somethin.' You're old, huh?"

"Twenty is not old," Kakashi frowned.

"Uh, yeah it is! That's way older than me," the boy reasoned.

Kakashi arched his brow, somewhat amused at the talkative child. "What are you, three, four? You're close to being a baby."

"I'm not a baby!"

"Hm... I don't know," he said smugly as he shrugged his shoulders," You look like a baby to me. Your cheeks are still full and those fingers—they're quite stubby if you ask me."

The boy huffed in response. "Yeah, well you're still old!" He cried out petulantly.

Kakashi laughed before patting the boy on the head. "Well," he began," I guess I am pretty old, then."

Naruto smiled in satisfaction and he could not help but smile in turn. This boy was every bit of his birth mother, effervescent and just that much aggressive as the "Red Hot Habanero"—and yet, he saw Teresa in him too.

A surge of nostalgia had swept through his entirety as he reminisced about his sensei and his sensei's wife. They were good people and he must admit that the hokage had indeed picked the best possible candidate to fill in their absence. Teresa had always seemed far from human, cold and detached, however she had taken motherhood in stride. It was a surprise for him altogether.

"Hey, why do you have grey hair, you sure you're twenty?" Naruto questioned once more.

He rolled his eyes at this. Children often asked him this, it was always the children. "That's rude. It's genetics, and, uh... You know, it's not grey, it's silver," he argued in a matter-of-fact tone having felt slightly affronted.

"Looks like grandpa Hiru's hair! And he's suuuper old!"

"You know, I'm beginning to think you have some sort of morbid fascination towards the elderly, Naruto..." He sighed.

"Yeah, I like old people. They're nice and they smell nice too. Grandma 'Kumi smells like mint and old people perfume, I like it. And grandpa Hiru smells weird because the stuff he sucks up from that pipe thing he has, mom says its called tobacco. I like that too—" he scooted closer to him and began to sniff at his clothes and Kakashi felt himself go rigid "—You smell like dogs and grass and, and outside. Now, smell me. What do I smell like?"

He furrowed his brows in apprehension. The boy was an odd one, it reminded him of someone he used to know—it saddened him slightly as he thought of this.

"C'mon, smell me! What do I smell like?" The boy prodded once more.

He rolled his eyes before acquiescing to the child's demands and leaned into the sleeve of his shirt to sniff slightly. Kakashi then looked up towards his face with a bland expression. "You smell like a baby," he deadpanned.

Naruto stuck his tongue out. "Yeah, well you smell like dogs! Dogs are worse than babies."

"Uh, that is terribly false. Dogs are wonderful creatures, if you must know."

"They're not special," Naruto shrugged. "I don't like dogs that much. One time, I was walking with mom to the market and then I saw a cute doggy, and ya' know what? It bit me!"

"Hn, I'd bite you too if I were that dog. Children are such a nuisance. I'm sure you probably antagonized it or something. Dogs are gentle creatures."

"No, they're mean."

"Well, you just don't have a good appreciation for them."

"Eh, I like frogs more. They're ugly, but they're cute too and they don't bite or anything," he said before jumping off the couch to toddle off towards a toy chest near the coffee table. He dug into a pile of plush animals before pulling out a stuffed frog. "See? This is Gama, mom gave him to me when we went to the market. He doesn't talk a lot and he likes to jump because he's a frog."

"You, uh... Sure have a lot of toys, Naruto."

"Yeah, they're from grandpa and grandma—they always buy me toys. Mom doesn't like to buy me toys a lot, she says I'll be too spoiled. She likes to buy me wood stuff like the, uh, the kunais. Mom says its for training."

"Hm...well, uh... That's good..." Kakashi replied awkwardly.

He could only be reminded of when he first started off in his training as a child. His father never really pushed him to even start a career as a shinobi, in fact, it was he who had begged to start early. Kakashi guessed that he had always had the natural inclination to become a shinobi. Perhaps it was ingrained in his very genetic makeup, he was not sure, but he knew that it was something that had been apart of him since the time he could even walk.

"Yeah, I like training, but it's hard sometimes. Mom says that if I wanna be a good shinobi, I'm gonna have to train a whole lot. I wanna be super strong like her! Are you strong too?"

"Relatively speaking, I suppose."

"I hope I can be strong too," Naruto beamed.

"I'm...uh, sure you... I'm sure you will be," he felt himself stutter as he gazed at the boy's hopeful eyes. They were so blue, so vivid and full of childlike wonder—he could see his sensei in those eyes. It almost hurt to look.

Hatake Kakashi, for all things worth, was an intelligent man—able to articulate as smoothly as a conman, as eloquently as a high-official orator if he were to really exert some actual effort. However, for some twisted reason, he could not help but find himself at a loss for words at times when speaking to the small child in front of him. With eyes like his father, it was as if he were looking into the face of his sensei once again. The thought made him shudder.

"You look a lot like your father..." Kakashi muttered under his breath, wistfully.

"Do you really think so?" The boy queried, much to Kakashi's utter shock.

From a distance, he heard the sound of a kettle whistling and the light ring of a timer. There was a clamor in the kitchen.

Teresa took the opportunity to enter the room upon this time and the man quickly turned towards her as if a child caught under their parent's reprimanding eye.

He was not entirely sure whether or not it was appropriate to have slightly divulged about Naruto's heritage, he was not even sure if Teresa even told him. Chances were, she most likely had not and Kakashi felt as if he may have inadvertently opened a can of worms. He could only hope that her reaction would be less than civil.

"Dinner's ready," she smiled faintly before directing her cold silver gaze towards him. "Why don't we finish this conversation in the dining room? I'm sure Naruto would love to hear more about his father. Isn't that right, Naruto?"

The little boy nodded his head eagerly before running past Kakashi and into the a room adjacent of the main room.

He followed Naruto into the dining room and encircled the table, observing the three serving bowls surrounding a wide kama pot of steaming kamameshi right in the middle of the table. Without warning he felt Teresa place a vice-like grip upon his shoulder, before she subtly shoved him down upon one of the seats next to Naruto. He swore that if she were to have added just a fraction less of more pressure, she would have dislocated his shoulder, he swore that had she not been so swift, perhaps he would have reacted like the shinobi he was, perhaps... A wounded ego and a bruised shoulder would be his disdainful reminder the morning after, he was sure.

"You'll be sitting here," she said in a commanding tone before seating herself across from him and Naruto.

"Yay, I like this stuff," Naruto, still seemingly oblivious, beamed as he reached for a pair of chopsticks placed next to his bowl and proceeded to serve himself some rice. "I like when mom makes this, she puts a bunch of yummy stuff in it...Buut, the vegetables are okay, I guess."

"They're good for you," he heard Teresa mumble as she too began to serve herself a bowl. She directed her cold gaze towards him before arching a thin brow. "Would you prefer to get some yourself or shall I perhaps serve you?"

He shook his head briskly. "No, I'm fine."

All three proceeded to eat with Naruto filling the silence with his sporadic chatter. Not one for idle chatter, Kakashi simply ate his food and generally kept to himself, occasionally providing a few affiliative comments to the boy who chattered away. He noticed that Teresa had barely spoken a word, only nodding her head at the boy or humming in acknowledgement every time the conversation went towards her.

Finally, for what seemed forever, all three had finished their bowls, and Teresa ambled away for a moment only to return with a hot tea kettle and three cups.

"So..." She said as she poured the hot liquid into each cup. "Shall we pick up on our previous conversation?"

Naruto perked at this. "Which one, mom?"

"Oh, why don't you ask Kakashi? I'm sure he has plenty to say about it. Don't you, Kakashi?" Silver eyes fixated on him, dull, yet intense all the same with an unreadable expression.

What was he supposed to say? The woman had literally pinned him against a rock and a hard place, he had no way out of this, he had no way to address his slip up. He knew that underneath her bored expression that she was taunting him, torturing him even. Just like the many times she had done so in the past, even when she was not physically there. He supposed that this was one of the reasons why they never truly got along in their youth.

Shimura Teresa always managed to get underneath his skin—her with her perfect face and perfect upbringing and her condescending expressions in which he would invariably be on the receiving end of. Her pristine blonde hair too light for his liking, her dull porcelain skin, silver eyes that were as cold and sleek as steel, white teeth and all—he always hated it. She was the anathema to his very existence. So, why? Why did he allow himself after all these years to be subject to her torture once again?

"Well?" She continued.

He could feel himself frown as he gave her a tired look. "...His...um—" Kakashi coughed awkwardly "—his father."

"Ah, that's right. Remember what Kakashi told you earlier?" He watched as the patronizing blonde prodded his sensei's son with that damnable faint smile that perpetually played upon her visage.

"Oh, yeah... You talked about my dad, right? Did you know him too?" Naruto questioned much to his dismay.

His first instinct was to draw his gaze upon Teresa who continued to sit there smugly as she sipped on her tea. She offered him an even look, one that conveyed a silent message that told him to continue. And so he did.

"Well, yes...I...sort of," he lied. He could have sworn he heard Teresa draw in a silent breath that she must have been holding the entire time. "Like all Konoha shinobi, he was a comrade."

"So, you must've known my mom too, huh?"

"...Yeah, like I said. Your mother and I've worked with each other once or twice when we first started off as jounin. We even knew each other back in the Academy."

"No, silly, my mom. My real mom—the one who had me with my dad, right?'

Now, it was time for Kakashi to draw in an inward breath. Perhaps Naruto was more cognizant than he had realized, surely he would have remembered the fact that for the past three years he had grown up alone—he supposed no amount of repression could hide that fact. And so suddenly, a woman had swept him up from his feet and took him under her wing.

"You're smarter than I thought..." he felt himself muttering under his breath and he watched as Teresa turned towards him to give him a pointed look. Naruto, however, never caught on.

"It's no secret to Naruto that he was alone for quite a long time. Once I officially took him in, I took it upon myself to clear a few of these discrepancies up and tell him about his parents," Teresa said before leaning in towards him just enough for him to barely hear her whisper. "I've told him his parents were shinobi who died an honorable death, not yet have I went into full details, so please keep it vague. The hokage and I have both agreed that revealing his true parentage may be a bit overwhelming for him, therefore, I will be telling him of it all once he's old enough and ready to understand."

Kakashi nodded in understanding, he too saw the logic in not divulging the information at this moment and if the kid had no real interest in going into detail about his heritage, then he saw no harm in it all.

Clearing his throat, he focused his gaze directly on the inquisitive child. "...Your, um... biological mother was a strong kunoichi. She was one of the many shinobi who sacrificed her life to save the village during the kyuubi attack—a great woman, I even looked up to her as a kid..."

The little boy seemed to be taking it all in, processing everything with a contemplative look etched upon his countenance. The air around them seemed to grow heavy. Kakashi quickly turned his gaze towards Teresa in slight worry and it would seem that she too was holding in her breath. The tenseness was nauseating as the two adults mentally scrambled to find a way how to react to the boy's next action.

To Kakashi's utter surprise, Naruto simply shrugged and the habitual smile that lingered on his face had returned once more. "Hmm...I'm glad you knew my mom and dad. They seem like nice people, right mom?" he said to Kakashi before turning to the blonde in question.

"Yes, they were very nice people, Naruto. Isn't it nice that Kakashi gave you some insight on your biological parents? I think you should thank him, after all, it's only polite to do so," Teresa said evenly, before reaching out to ruffle the boy's hair.

Naruto tugged at Kakashi's sleeve and grinned. "Thanks, 'Kashi!"

He could only sigh in relief.

* * *

At night before Kakashi departed the Shimura residence, Teresa decided to converse with him one-on-one for a short moment. He ambled out the front door and towards the porch with Teresa following behind, before lingering there to talk. He knew that she would have much to say and he was prepared for her to ream him out. However, it would seem that tonight was a night full of surprises as Kakashi was only met with her usual indifference—no indication of any anger at all.

"He'll probably have more questions for you in the future," Teresa said knowingly and he could barely detect the trace of worry that had laced her words.

"I...I, uh, I apologize for mentioning Minato-sensei, I just—I couldn't help it. It just slipped out and—" Kakashi felt himself replying in haste.

"No, it's fine. I'm not terribly angry. In all honesty, I'm not angry at all...A bit relieved, if anything."

"So... Everything's fine, right? You won't be holding this against me, will you?" He questioned in good nature.

"No, however, I will be holding you accountable for the future questions he'll be having. That means, I expect you to be there to divulge him the next time he has questions for you," she said with a smug smile.

He chuckled. "Don't worry, I'll be there. I think I owe Minato-sensei that much."

"I think so too. And not only for your sensei, but for Naruto too. He needs a male figure to look up to, the hokage does a damn good job, but it's just not enough."

"...Are you saying...?"

"I just think that it would be good for Naruto to have someone like...someone like you. Early child development books indicate that a female figure isn't enough for healthy psychological development within children his age and Kami knows that children who are raised to be shinobi are often afflicted with far too many mental problems to begin with. It'll be good for him"

"So..."

"So, I think you should stop by more often. I know you're quite busy often times and I won't be around much as often as I would like for Naruto, but if he had someone to check up on him once in a while...it would be helpful, don't you think?"

"That arrangement sounds fine."

Teresa brought her hand out towards him and he tentatively shook it. It was a mutual understanding, an agreement of the sorts.

Maybe this was what Minato-sensei would have wanted...

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Not much action in this one, just a little confrontation and a bit of some setting up for some future chapters. After this, things will only get better. I haven't been able to update as often as I would have liked since college has me a little overwhelmed with finals, after this it's summer break, therefore there will be constant updates soon. I appreciate each and everyone of you and enjoy reading every single review. Thank you all so much.


	6. Chapter 5: Lost in the Thrill of it All

**Chapter Five: Lost in the Thrill of it All**

"Into this wild Abyss, the womb of Nature, and perhaps her grave. Of neither sea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire."

* * *

 _Eight years later..._

"There you are..."

Teresa could hear the calm stoicism intrinsic to her comrade's voice and it soothed her like a lullaby in the evening air.

She stood from behind Teresa as they gazed at the ornate gothic pillars before them that seemed to have stretched upon the heavens and beyond. They seemed almost infinite, like the promise of salvation through penance that the priests would often perorate for hours upon hours en mass.

The city of Rabona was considered a haven from the malignancy that tainted their everyday world. It was a holy chasm in it of itself where the lame and decrepit, the sinner and the saint, could seek refuge within. However, the senshi were excluded from the coalition of the Christendom, strictly forbidden to never step foot upon such sacred grounds.

Heaven it would seem was too far out of reach. And yet, here they were.

"I've been looking all over the city for you..." her comrade said solemnly.

Teresa sighed in exasperation, too weary of hearing another admonishment from her comrade. There was a reason she had been avoiding her and the fact that the other girl was continuously trying to follow her did not sit well with the senshi.

"I wanted to be alone," Teresa felt herself arguing.

"What you want is surely what you do not need. I know that what you need is my company, otherwise you'll simply end up going rogue again and the organization will have to send another capture and interrogate party to collect you."

Teresa frowned. "Well, who cares? I don't want to be here. I do not want to continue to train all in the hope that I can become a killing instrument for the organization. Our existence is hell, why should we continue to perpetuate their teachings?"

"What else can we do? They'll kill us if we don't."

"Well, perhaps I wish to die."

It was Ilena's turn to frown. Suddenly, Teresa could feel the other girl's hand gripping tightly onto her shoulder as she roughly tugged her around to face her. "Those are words of a coward," Ilena hissed. "If you die now, you'll just be letting them win. There will be no true loss in their eyes, only a potential. Do you really wish to end up in the recording logs as a mere 'potential?'"

Teresa sighed before roughly pulling away from the other girl. She glared at her before she draped her arms upon the gilded gates that surrounded the cathedral entrance. A look of forlorn was steadily blossoming across her visage as she gazed out towards the infinite pillars once more.

"Do you remember what it used to be like?" Teresa questioned hollowly to no one in particular.

"What?" Ilena countered in genuine curiosity. "What are you getting at?"

"How it used to be like, how we used to be like...back when you were human. Do you not remember?"

"I...I don't remember...not anymore..." Ilena's voice grew soft now, a complete paradox in comparison to her normal solemn tone.

"I remember that I used to feel so content. The world seemed so much brighter, I saw the joie de vivre. I laughed a lot, I remember. I remember I used to feel so content, I... Despite growing up in rather deplorable circumstances, I was still so, so...happy."

"Happiness...what a foreign concept."

"Indeed. I feel as if the girl I remember was perhaps never me to begin with. She was so much different, her disposition was lighter. Frankly, she was so much more beautiful than I."

"What do you mean? The organization had told us that all the senshi are naturally contrived to be objectively beautiful in human standards due to our genetic splicing. It's a scientific fact," Ilena replied in a matter-of-fact sort of tone.

"That is what I mean. Homogeny is the anathema of what beauty should be. My hair..." Teresa felt a stray tear fall from her eye as her voice waned. "It was so beautiful, the darkest shade of black you could imagine...and my eyes, they were so dark and I thought...I still think that they were the most beautiful eyes I've ever..."

Teresa wiped the tears that collected at the corner of her eyes away vehemently and Ilena simply stood there listening as if her life depended upon it. A mutual understanding silently ebbed away at their previous argument for they both knew that Teresa was not crying to commemorate her lost vanity, far from it. Teresa was mourning the loss of her humanity—the most precious gift in all of life. Only the senshi understood how priceless humanity was, they envied their human counterparts for possessing such a blessing. It was only because they were stripped away of such a thing. Their humanity was unceremoniously taken from them and it was something of which they could never reclaim.

"...I miss mine too..." she heard Ilena admit quietly. "I once had green eyes, and I remember they were so beautiful. When I was...human...I used to hate them. I thought they were ugly as all the other people in my village possessed light blue or grey eyes. I hated my green eyes, but now...I miss them so much."

Teresa was at a loss for words, astonished even. Her comrade had always been a no-nonsense senshi, her demeanor was rigid and stony reminding her of an unyielding rock. However, the fact that Ilena had divulged precious information and actually empathized with her for once had nearly shook Teresa to her core. Perhaps Teresa's previous sentiments towards her comrade were wrong, perhaps this girl understood her pain just as much.

Teresa turned around to face her comrade and was met with yet another surprise. Ilena had been standing there with her countenance hanging low as tears were running down her silver eyes. This was a sight that Teresa would never thought to ever witness in her lifetime—the most stone-faced senshi tearing over the loss of her humanity. It was a sight to behold.

"I am sorry..." Teresa said before reaching out to grasp Ilena's shaking hands.

And the two girls stood there in the middle of the cathedral entrance silently. The gilded sculpture of Christ in crucification seemed to lament at the senshi as it gazed out towards the pillars from the altar of the threshold. With the painted martyrs as their witness, Teresa and Ilena, in their most vulnerable of acts, cried together.

The holy city had never been so silent.

* * *

Teresa awoke with a gasp as she shot up from bed instinctively. A cold beaded sweat was forming across her forehead and she brought her hands to her face only to feel the trail of wet tears across her cheeks. She had been crying in her sleep.

Teresa sighed as she slowly gathered her wits, remembering what her unconscious state had conjured up as her dream. She dreamt of Ilena and the first moment that they had become friends. It had been so long since Teresa even thought of the woman who was now forever lost in the annals of her memory. In truth, it had been quite a long time since Teresa found herself dreaming between both worlds. The thought in it of itself made her feel so crestfallen.

She gazed out the window only to see that it was still nightfall and Konoha was blanketed in the natural silence. From what she could tell, dawn would be fast approaching and a new day would be following in her stead. With that in mind and the fact that Teresa knew she would not be getting any more sleep tonight, the blonde simply fell back and stared at the ceiling. The morning be damned.

Six hours later and she could hear the sound of her son bustling about the house in a tumult of noise.

"Ma, wake up, wake up, wake up!"

It was dawn of a new day. The sun had seemingly rose from beneath the hills of Konoha, setting the entire village ablaze with its synonymous light. Naturally, she had woken moments before the sunrise. However, unlike the many mornings before, rather than immediately rising from bed, Teresa opted on laying in for this particular morning and not just for the simple fact that she had experienced a memorable dream hours before. For that, this had meant that today was a rather special occasion as she never threw off the equilibrium of her perfectly crafted routine.

She could hear little footsteps scrambling across the halls beyond her bedroom door and she smiled faintly to herself. The sound of such a normal occurrence had become a rhythm to her ears now—a melody of the sorts. No longer was she alone both physically and mentally, rather she had someone whom she could very much rely on at the end of the day. A home to come home to in the most proverbial sense.

From a distance, a voice she was all too familiar with was calling out to her as well and with each passing minute, it seemed to be coming closer and closer. And suddenly...

In a flurry of noises—a crash heard from outside, a thud on the door, and then a sudden bang. As if on cue, a flash of yellow and orange came charging through the bedroom door following the series of noises.

"Ma, why're you still lying in bed? Get up, get up, get up!" Naruto chided as he jumped on the bed in excitement. "Do you know what today is?"

"No, not really," she lied through half-lidded eyes as she gazed at the ceiling and back at him.

He rolled his eyes. "Ugh, obviously, you're lying ma. It doesn't suit you! C'mon, c'mon, at least be more excited. Do you know what today is?"

Teresa made a move to open her mouth to promptly respond, however the boy beat her to the punch.

"It's the first day of my official Genin training, ma! I'm gonna be meeting my sensei today," He exclaimed.

She gingerly sat up and pulled him close to her in a casual embrace. "I know, I know..."

Truthfully, there was a reason why Teresa decided not to get up from bed this morning, for in all cases, she would invariably choose to go about her day rather than lying in bed. The truth was, she was simply not ready to see her son off for his first day as a Genin. In any normal scenario, the average shinobi parent would be proud, moreover, eager to see their child off to the first step of their official shinobi training. However, Teresa on the other hand, had been dreading the day even before it came into fruition. A knot of foreboding had tied itself tightly around her better judgement as she was not ready to see Naruto leave the academy.

Years ago, Teresa would have been brimming with pride at the mere prospect, but, parenthood in its actual application had completely changed her sentiments. She realized that raising Naruto through some of his early formative years made her more protective, more sensitive to his emotions, and above all, more attached. And try as she might, Teresa's attachment towards the boy was preventing her from letting him go and explore in a new journey with a new sensei—a thought that she had dreaded the most.

"Well, then get up ma! We're gonna be late if you keep lazing around in bed all day," Naruto continued.

In another life, Teresa would have never imagined someone telling her such a statement and she chuckled at the thought. Oh, how the tables have turned...

"Okay, I'm up," she sighed in feigned defeat. "I'll be ready in ten minutes."

Moments later, the two were seated at the kitchen table casually sharing a quickly prepared breakfast of green onion omelettes and rice. As the boy was happily munching away at his meal, the mother procured a list of items to check off for his first day of training.

"Do you have your kunai, shuriken, senbon, and explosive tags?" She queried.

"Yep, and I even polished them all last night like you said!" The boy replied.

"Good, good. How about your supplementary field equipment—chakra pills, communicator, sharpening tools, first-aid kit, sealing scrolls, and bingo book?"

"Yep, yep, and yep. Got all of those too ma, just like you told me. Ya know ma, it's only training so I don't know why you're making me bring all this stuff like a mission..."

"Treat every circumstance as if it were your last," she warned. "I expect nothing less of you. Now, what are we missing?"

The boy halted in his eating before pondering for a moment. "Umm...Am I missing my, uh, lunch? I think?"

"Correct," she affirmed before procuring three large bento boxes. "I've prepared three. Knowing that you have no idea how competent your other two teammates will be, there is a high probability, one hundred to one, that they may or may not pack their own provisions. Always come prepared and two steps ahead, my boy, for you will never know what situation you may be thrown in once you start training. And in any case, you'll simply just end up with an extra meal you can indulge in all by yourself."

"What's on the menu, ma?"

"Steamed rice, karage chicken, tamagoyaki, and a small salad—plenty of food to sustain yourself with the right balance of...?" She coaxed an eyebrow up indicating for him to finish.

"Of proteins, complex carbohydrates, grains, and vegetables," Naruto rolled his eyes in amusement. "I already know, mom."

"Good," she finished proudly. "I'm going to seal your lunch in this scroll and I want you to tuck it away in your jacket, got that?"

"Yes ma."

"Do you remember how to unseal your scrolls? I recall that we went over this last week."

"Yes ma, I've been practicing too."

"Good. I've only taught you a very basic form of the technique enough to seal and unseal simple items, but I am sure your Jounin sensei can delve into the more complex strategies."

"Alright ma, are we finished?" He questioned in a pleading voice.

There was no doubt that the boy was ready, but Teresa was not so sure whether she was ready. Shaking such troubling thoughts away, Teresa collected their plates and stood up to toss them in the sink.

"Yes, yes. I suppose you're ready. Let us not waste any more time."

* * *

The walk towards the academy went like any other day. Since his first day at the academy, Teresa took it upon herself to accompany the boy every morning no matter what she had planned for the day and no matter how many times he would complain out of feigned embarrassment. Intuitively, she knew the boy enjoyed their daily morning routine just as much as she. The only times she would be unable to accompany him were the days when she had missions that overlapped with her schedule and for those times, she would entrust Kurenai and sometimes even Kakashi to walk with him. He would whine that he preferred his mother as evidenced from what they would tell her, thus she knew the child for all pretense aside thought their daily routine important. However, Teresa knew that this would be the last time she would ever have the chance to do this. She had a feeling he did too as he was uncharacteristically glued to her side this morning.

"You know Naruto, this is the last time that I will get to walk with you to the academy. Once you start your Genin training, you'll be expected to be more independent," Teresa idly remarked as they turned a corner towards the main road.

He was a silent for a moment as if in contemplation as they continued on their trek through the busy roads of Konoha's Main Street.

"Yeah, I know," He finally said in earnest before shoving his hands in his pockets.

"I know I've told you that shinobi children are often raised in different circumstances, that there exists an inherent distance between child and parent once they begin their formal training. However..." She paused before grabbing ahold of his hand to squeeze it slightly. "As a parent, I've realized that it is quite hard to really let go."

She did not want to cry, but loathe the fates for today, Teresa found herself shedding a tear as she told him this. The boy responded with a large grin as his face flushed red in embarrassment.

"Aw, c'mon mom, don't get all weepy with me," the boy said as he scratched the back of his head in timidity. "I'll be home for dinner."

"I know, I know. I just...I used to be such a, what do you call it?"

"What?"

"You know, that vulgar term you always use, what is it again? Ah, a hard-ass! I used to be such a, a hard-ass on you especially when it came to preparing you for the shinobi world. But it would seem it paid off, you tied with one of the top students in your class, natural talent can only get a child so far...Do you remember that I gave you a choice?"

"Yeah, you said,' Naruto, the life of a shinobi is not fit for everyone. It is difficult and can sometimes be unrewarding," he said as he tried to mimic his best impression of her. "That's why I want to know, do you really want to be a shinobi?' And I said hell yeah, because I wanna be strong like you ma!"

"Do you ever regret your decision, Naruto?"

He shook his head. "Nope, never. I always wanted to be strong like you mom, because everybody wouldn't shut up about how powerful you were when you were kid. But ya know, I realized that I want to be more than just strong, I want to be hokage one day like gramps so I know I'm gonna have to work extra hard to get there!"

"As you should. I'm glad that you already understand the level of importance your diligence will take you. I know I've told you time and time again. In all honesty, Naruto, I know that you are prepared for the real world and I can only be there to support you on your path."

"Thanks mom, I know. And ya know, I don't tell you much, but I'm pretty grateful that you've been helping to train me out of the academy. I think that kinda gives me a edge don't ya think, ma?"

"Of course it does," they heard another voice appear from behind.

"Oh, hiya auntie! Are you heading to the academy too?" Naruto greeted cheerily as Kurenai approached from behind only to fall in step with Teresa and the boy.

"Ah, good morning Kurenai," Teresa smiled. "I see you'll be meeting your Genin team today, no?

"Good morning, Teresa-chan! And yep, I showed you the roster yesterday, right?"

"Yes, it would seem your team will be quite a unique mix from what I can deduce."

"Ooh, ooh! You didn't tell me you saw all the teams mom, do you know who my sensei is?" Naruto chimed in.

"As a matter of fact, your mama does," Kurenai teased. "But, you won't be finding out until this afternoon."

"Aww, c'mon Auntie Kurenai, don't leave me in the dirt! I wanna know, is it Sarutobi-san? Or maybe it's you? Or maybe..."

"Nuh, uh, uh, save the guessing game for later squirt, your mama will be mad if I even try to give you a hint."

"Aww you suck auntie," Naruto huffed before crossing his arms petulantly. In response, Kurenai bonked him on the head and the boy whined.

Teresa chuckled," Serves you right, Naruto. No one is supposed to know who their sensei is until they meet their sensei. You will wait like the rest of your classmates."

Naruto stuck his tongue out before quickly walking ahead of the two women.

With the boy out of hearing proximity, Kurenai leaned closer towards Teresa.

"How are you feeling, Teresa-chan?" Kurenai questioned knowingly. The woman was well attuned to her best friend's emotions by now and she knew that the blonde was worrying herself to death under her seemingly calm exterior.

"Well, other than the fact that my child is officially going off to train to be a cold-blooded killer, I am feeling rather splendid," Teresa replied sarcastically.

"We're all cold-blooded killers," Kurenai shrugged. "Besides, I'd say that applies to you more so than any of the rest of us in all honesty. You were killing men even before I could hold a proper genjutsu."

"I know...don't remind me," Teresa sighed.

"But if it makes you feel better Teresa-chan, I think Naruto will do great! And I'm speaking from a clearly objective point-of-view. You've raised him to become a competent student even though sometimes I think you may be a little too lenient in fostering his rude behavior—your boy can be a silly little brat sometimes. But then again, attitude aside, he was top of his class in both practical application and theoretical."

"Tied with the top of the class," Teresa corrected. "Therefore, not top student in all actuality."

"Eh, he's a good kid anyways. I would have loved to be his sensei and have him apart of my Genin team, but it can't be helped."

Before they knew it, they had already made it towards the entrance of the academy. Though difficult as it was, she manged to bid her farewells to both Naruto and Kurenai. Today, she had cleared her schedule and foregone any mission briefings as she wanted Naruto to be able to come home to a good meal after the first day of his Genin training. With that in mind, Teresa decided to spend her day at home to await his return.

On her way home she pondered the many possible outcomes of Naruto's first day with the knowledge that she had seen the jounin-to-genin roster thanks to Kurenai, knowing just exactly who his sensei would be.

Speaking of which, she could see the man casually sitting on a bench right across her path. Teresa rolled her eyes at this.

She approached him with a fixed glare wondering why the man was out and about while his team was waiting in the academy for his arrival.

"Why are you out here reading without a care in the world and most importantly why does it seem as if you have no intention to leave this spot for another few hours?" Teresa queried as she crossed her arms in reprimanding.

The man in question lazily peered up from his book as he offered one of his habitually half-hearted eye smiles while yawning in spite of himself. "You know, Teresa-san, it's a really nice day, the sun is shining...so I thought to myself, why not bask in the sunshine and read a lovely book?" he said while gesturing towards the illicit romance novel he had been parading around for years now.

"Well, Hatake, I do not think that now is the right time to go about your leisure. You have three students patiently waiting for your arrival back in the academy and I would be none too pleased if my son comes home whining about how useless his Jounin sensei is."

"Think of it this way, the kids will be learning a lesson in my absence as they wait."

"And what sort of lesson do you propose that they will be learning?" She was not buying it at all.

"That patience is a virtue," he finished off smugly.

Within the span of less than a second the book was snatched from his hands and Teresa used it to bonk him in the back of the head with enough force to even make a seasoned Jounin yelp. "Okay, okay," he grumbled. "I'll go then!"

The man stood up from his perch and stretched. Teresa nodded her head in satisfaction before nonchalantly tossing the book back towards the shinobi.

"You won't be too difficult with them today I'm hoping," she said in warning. She was all too familiar with the man's reputation in failing all the Genin teams he had been given thus far.

"I'm not making any promises," he waved her off casually before picking up to a leisurely stroll towards the opposite direction of the academy. Teresa had a feeling the man was simply heading off to find another spot to hide from her and read his damned novel.

She knew that Naruto would be in for one hell of an adventure with this one and she smile in spite of herself. This was his journey now and it was her job to only guide him along the way...

"This is all for you," Teresa said looking up towards the sky, moreover, Teresa felt as if she was staring through the looking glass of the universe. This was dedicated to all the individuals who managed to find a place in her heart—for Naruto, for Clare, for Ilena, and even for Obito once upon a time.

She could only hope that they could hear her silent prayers.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I am aware that it has been almost a year since I've written and I apologize from the deepest depths of my heart. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave a review.


	7. Chapter 6: Please, Decondition Yourself

**Chapter Six: Please, Decondition Yourself**

Naruto remembered the first time he met his mother, it was one of the only earliest memories he could actually recall moment-to-moment. Furthermore, it was one of the most vivid memories he possessed up until now.

He remembered how pretty he thought she was and like the storybooks gramps would often read him, moms were depicted to be extremely pretty from what he heard.

At first he thought that maybe he thought she looked so nice because he had been so used to seeing faceless people wearing animal masks for the majority of his life up until he met her. However, he realized that he was wrong and that, yes, she was actually one of the most beautiful women that ever walked Konoha—and this was a fact that he would still often rub in to his other classmate's faces (particularly of the male persuasion) because childish arguments would even stoop to the petty level of _"Well yeah? My mom's prettier than your mom!"_ or _"My T.V.'S nicer than yours,"_ but that was besides the point.

The first time Naruto met his mother he remembered that she was nice too, she played with him and actually spoke to him as if he were a real person. Don't get him wrong, gramps took his time to try to initiate one-on-one interactions with him, but his mom was the first person who tried to conduct an actual stimulating conversation. In response, his three-year-old mind latched onto her like a magnet on an iron plate.

So from what he remembered, when he first met his mom, he thought he met an actual, literal angel.

He remembered very little of his life up until that point and he could really care less, his mom told him the truth of the matter however. She told him that the Fourth Hokage chose him to be the Kyuubi container when he was barely even born—the nerve of the guy! Of all people, he couldn't understand why this supposed great hokage took it in his heart to stuff some giant demon into a baby barely born within the hour! That's why his mom said many of the villagers were none too happy of his existence, she said," The village in its entirety reacted negatively to the fact that you were still alive. They absolutely abhorred the idea that the monster that had destroyed their village and killed their relatives was contained within a small baby boy." Whatever that meant.

For all he knew, the village had basically hated him. Hell, he didn't really care too much since if he was ever put in that very same position, he'd hate himself too. His mother taught him that much, she would always say," No matter how much you disagree with someone's opinions, you must first understand how they perceive things." She called it empathy, or something.

Growing up, Naruto only had good memories about his life with his mom. She was a single mother, something that was still quite rare within the shinobi community as the typical household consisted of a nuclear family. Naruto never minded that however, having a father was never something he thought paramount to his childhood development. His mother taught him everything he knew and he would be damned if a father ever came into the picture because mom was the strongest kunoichi _, no,_ mom was the strongest _shinobi_ he had ever met in his life. He even thought her to be stronger than gramps and gramps was the hokage!

Other people would always tell him about his mother's feats because his mother would simply downplay the accomplishments she had before raising him. There were stories here and there of his mother's shinobi career and he even discovered that she promoted to Jounin at a very early age, apparently she was eleven or twelve. Once, his aunt Kurenai told him that his mom was considered a war hero and at the mere age of thirteen she defeated an S-Rank nin who was on the same level as the sannin! Oh, how he wished he could witness his mom during the Third Shinobi War because even gramps would tell him that she was "one of the most formidable kunoichi I've ever seen-to-date."

His mother, on the other hand, would always minimize her reputation, never really divulging anything important unless he really asked her about it. It wasn't that she was secretive or anything, Naruto just had the feeling that she probably could care less about what she accomplished. That's why he always thought her to be a bit odd. However, you couldn't really pick and choose your parents, so he accepted everything at face-value. The only takeaway from this was that he was going to focus on being a shinobi so powerful, that he could one day contend on the same playing field with his mother.

She would always tell him that he would most definitely surpass her one day and he believed it, because mom was always right when it came to these sort of things. He could only hope that by listening to her random daily lessons about life and by taking the training she would have him undergo seriously, that this would ultimately help him out in the long run.

He even managed to be top of his class, tied with that annoying Uchiha Sasuke. Now, that was a guy who really rubbed him the wrong way and he always considered himself a pretty patient kid. That bastard just screamed entitlement and sure, he was skilled as hell, but Naruto would never admit to the fact.

Today, Naruto would be meeting his Jounin sensei and from what his mother told him yesterday, she said that his Genin team would have to undergo an entrance test that will be determined by said sensei—it was a pass or fail kind of thing and he would be damned if he failed after working so hard in the academy. Thus, he woke up earlier than usual this morning, but it would seem that reality would be thrown in for a loop because for once in his life, his mother was still lying in bed. Not one for pondering too hard on such an abnormal occurrence, Naruto simply woke her up by cannonballing onto the bed and rushing her out the door after breakfast.

They walked the same path they usually took like every morning and, yes, he would admit that he may have been feeling a little clingy this particular morning because he knew that this was the last time she would accompany him to begin his day. The other kids would have a riot if they knew how attached he was to his mom, ergo he had to play it off a little. Even though he was considered old enough to be a lot more independent in the shinobi way, he still managed to have his mother guide him along every step of the way. However, in no means did he use this as a crutch, he was far too smart to depend upon someone as he knew that would impede him in his development. Again, his mother taught him that much.

He looked up from his steady amble to stare at his mother when she patted him on the shoulder. "You know Naruto, this is the last time that I will get to walk with you to the academy. Once you start your Genin training, you'll be expected to be more independent," she said with an unreadable expression.

They were crossing the street towards Konoha's civil affairs road or better known as the Main Road, where the academy and hokage tower were located.

He thought about her words and frowned. He knew from here on out, things would be wholly different from his typical routine. That meant mom would be more active on the hokage's mission roster because Naruto was no fool, he knew she was holding back on accepting missions because she wanted to spend more time training him during his academy years.

"I know..." he finally answered and he knew for a fact that this was his final acceptance.

Things would most definitely be different from now on.

* * *

Meeting his new team was a drag—as Shikamaru aptly articulated it.

He was placed in a team with the Nara boy himself and Yamanaka Ino. Shikamaru, he could stand, because the boy had been a good buddy of his since their academy days. However, as for Ino, that would be a little bit of a problem as she was just too...too girlish.

For the better part of his life, Naruto was surrounded by kunoichi who held no pretense for vanity or infatuations. His mother, his aunt Kurenai, and even his grandmother Ikumi were all prime examples of women who never really worried themselves over the superficialities of life simply because that was the antithesis of all shinobi rhetoric. The girls in his class however were a different story and Yamanaka Ino was one of the primary perpetrators of such a fact, her and another kunoichi he remembered to be called Sakura.

Currently, the three Genin were sitting in a classroom and anxiously waiting for their new sensei. They all sighed in unison when the last team who consisted of Shino, Sasuke, and Sakura were finally picked up by their sensei Sarutobi Asuma. That meant that they were the only ones left and that also meant that they had been waiting for a total of four hours since.

"Ugh, what the hell? Where's our sensei? Everyone is gone now and the sun is going to set in an hour or two," Ino whined.

"Talk about no punctuality, looks like our sensei's going to be troublesome to say the least," Shikamaru added before putting his head down on the desk once more.

"Time management is considered one of the most important mandates in the shinobi code, or so I've heard. Though I guess it just depends on the individual shinobi and how they interpret the code," Naruto shrugged. "But from the looks of it, our sensei probably just sucks."

"Yeah," both his other teammates agreed in tandem.

"Do you think sensei will be a boy or a girl?" Ino wondered.

"Probably a guy."

"Well, I think maybe sensei will be a girl. How about you, Shikamaru, what do you think?"

"The probability of sensei being a girl would be two-to-five, while the probability of sensei being a guy would be three-to-four based on the ratio of shinobi and kunoichi counterparts on the Jounin roster," Shikamaru said with a yawn. "Therefore, the chance of sensei being a guy is a much more sound argument if you look at the statistical data behind the ratio as it would be just plain stupid to think the male-to-female count would indicate otherwise. And thus, sensei will be a man. It's a simple argument of reduction of absurdity."

Both Naruto and Ino gaped at the boy simultaneously, having no words at the massive expense of words he just spewed in the breadth of a minute.

"Honestly, I don't know how you managed to be dead last in class, Shikamaru, because you're a freakin' genius," Naruto remarked as his brows knit together in confusion.

"Shikamaru's just a lazy ass," Ino countered. "You already know that, Naruto-kun."

"Yeah," both he and Shikamaru agreed in tandem.

"Well, you know what? I have a little surprise for sensei if or when he decides to come," Naruto snickered as he stood up and proceeded to grab a piece of sealing paper, some water, and two spark tags from his kunai holster.

His two teammates watched in an odd curiosity as the boy set about hastily scribbling characters upon the sealing paper.

"What are you doing?" Ino queried as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Creating a sealing jutsu," he replied casually. "My mom taught me how to seal natural matter, like let's see, this water here—you could do it with earth, even wind. Usually this technique is used in battle or during field missions but in this case, heh..."

"And what do you mean by that?"

"He's obviously going to prank sensei using a sealing jutsu," Shikamaru sighed.

"Ha, this is no mere sealing jutsu, this here is a technique created by mom when she visited the Land of Whirlpools. This sealing technique is written with specific characters that react to various flows of chakra without even using the basic hand signs to seal or unseal jutsu, it's a trick she learned by studying some scripts in the ruins of Uzushiogakure. You can even specify the characters to react to certain' people's chakra, but that's a lot more complex and mom hasn't taught me how to do that yet.

"Okay, so what's that going to do?"

"Well, if you had let me finish," Naruto rolled his eyes. "I would've told you that I'm gonna seal some water here within the sealing paper so once it reacts to a spike in chakra flow as soon as sensei goes through the door, the spark tags that I'm sticking on the corners will react in such a way that—"

"Water plus naturally charged electricity equals a mini maelstrom with naturally charged water that can spark anyone it touches or falls on. Clever," Shikamaru finished.

"Like that's gonna work on a seasoned Jounin," Ino scoffed.

"But that's the beauty of it, Ino. My mom's techniques never fail to deliver," Naruto smirked. "It'll get him."

"If it's created by Konoha's Silver-Eyed Witch, there's a ninety-two percent chance that it won't fail if what Naruto says is true. Therefore, I wouldn't doubt it," Shikamaru added.

"Sensei is gonna hate us," Ino said as she rubbed her temples.

"Well sensei can eat dirt for all I care," Naruto chuckled before slapping the seal on the threshold where the door met the entrance. "Now, we play the waiting game."

"As if we weren't doing it already."

Suddenly, the door slowly opened and in a blur of moments all too fast to comprehend, a gyrating burst of water fell upon one Hatake Kakashi. All three students stared in shock as they realized just who their sensei was and the man himself stared back at them with a tired look.

"Really, Naruto?" Kakashi sighed as he proceeded to shake some of the water off. In that moment, all three of the children likened him to that of a dog briskly shaking itself after a bath, or in this case after a soak—an electrically charged one at that.

Naruto laughed nervously before slightly stepping away from the man. "I, uh, I...I didn't know it'd be you, Kakashi-san," Naruto tried reasoning, but now that he came to think of it, being tardy would most definitely be a trait synonymous to Kakashi.

The man ambled towards the boy and used his novel to swiftly bonk the boy in the head, hard.

"That's sensei to you," he said before turning towards his other two students.

"My name is Hatake Kakashi and I'm going to be your Jounin sensei from now on."

Things would most definitely be a little crazy from here on out.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** A new perspective arises and we will continue to incorporate Naruto's perspective all throughout the story. Would love to hear any reviews—if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions; feel free to tell me.


	8. Chapter 7: A Warrior's Instinct

**Chapter Seven: A Warrior's Instinct**

 _"My head is filled with ruins, most of them are built with you. Now the dust no longer moves. Don't disturb the ghost of you."_

* * *

As the Village was plunged in the familiar darkness of the evening, many a lantern was lit to accommodate passerby in their treks back home. The pungent scent of the camphor laurels permeated throughout the summer air, balmy and thick as it filled the nostrils with its scent.

Greenery stretched out for miles and miles upon the road, but the vivid colors were muted under the darkness of the night. The sound of the cicada's melody reverberated throughout the air stifled by the dense humidity synonymous to the summer night. It engulfed them in whole, causing them to sink further into the belly of its heat.

Two figures walked along the path in a leisurely pace, one taller, the other, diminutive in comparison. An adult and their child; a mother and her son.

"Smells funny, huh, mama?" Naruto said in a sing-song voice as he grasped tightly on to his mother's hand.

"Those are the camphor trees. The bark on the tree emits a strong scent where the essence of the tree can be made into an oil. It has many medicinal properties that can be used as a topical ointment for minor cuts and bruises," she replied solemnly.

They were walking back from the village main street after having supped at Ichiraku's Ramen Shop for the third time this week. It seemed that ramen was becoming a main staple in Naruto's diet as of late. It was a perfect balance of complex carbohydrates and fats at a high-caloric intake that Teresa was successfully able to appease without much protest. Now, it was only a matter of going home to ready themselves for bed with full stomachs to lull them to a restful sleep.

Naruto proceeded to sniff at the air again. "No, but it smells...funnier today. Something's different."

Teresa narrowed her eyes, halting in her steps. She kneeled towards Naruto's level and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "What is it, my little fox, do you sense something amiss?"

He nodded slowly, pouting ever-so-slightly as he did this.

Teresa's head cocked back and forth, silver eyes intent on scanning the area for anything her child with attuned senses (thanks to a certain bijuu) had sensed that she could not on sight. Relying on her sense and sense alone, this time, she was able to concentrate on the minute chakra flows that ran throughout the Village in its entirety.

Past the warm bodies, past the trees, past the roots, past the earth, past the myriad buildings that stood across the land. She saw it all in a flush of images that had swarmed her senses within seconds, something akin to an overload in sensory information—all for her to process in the span of a few moments like manuscript files that she could access within reach. She reached out, fingers rooting into the foundation of the earth as if she had taken apart of the celestial sphere itself. Perusing through the natural energy that ran through every single living organism in the earth, searching for any outliers that managed to stray from the natural homeostasis that she had accustomed herself to.

Naruto stared at her with eyes wide as the moon, full of wonder, as Teresa's countenance took on its familiar look of intense concentration.

He knew this look, with her brows furrowed together, eyes shut tightly, and mouth stiff straight into a firm line. She was reading the earth—that was how he always put it. Whenever his mother had that look, the look of a warrior; those were the times when he felt that she was in her most natural state. He believed in the notion that people were put on this earth for reasons that are meant to be discovered through their lifetimes, a belief she had instilled within him from the moment he could fully comprehend abstract thought. And he firmly believed that this was her purpose. To be a warrior, to be a hero—someone he so terribly wished to become someday.

He looked at her like he looked upon the world, with eyes full of awe. That was what she meant to him, the world. Even with her brows knit together in concentration, taut from the massive strain she was putting on her facial musculature.

And suddenly...

Her eyes flew open. The silver within the irises seemed to almost burn with an intensity almost frightening. She was absolutely frightening when she got this way, but something always stirred within him whenever he witnessed this. It was completely compelling.

"Mama! Mama! Did you see something? Whatcha see?" He prodded in excitement, tugging on the sleeve of her shoulder. His smile was infectious.

With her head bent low and her long locks of hair covering her face like a curtain, she looked up. Naruto's smile slowly disappeared at the sight that met him. There was something eery in the way the shadows of her face grimaced, something etched within the lines like a calm comeliness awaiting something horrifyingly malicious enough to make a stone-faced shinobi quiver. Ready to face the inevitable. He could see the distress in every line of her visage, see it as tangible as the light in the darkness.

There was something in the air that night.

"Naruto..." she said slowly. "We must leave. Now."

And then he felt himself being swept up in her arms and suddenly thrust in the air at the full force of her rapid speed in running. She ran and she ran.

It was all a blur right then and there, so much that he was unable to comprehend much less sense what had happened at that very moment. From what he recalled, he could feel his body being jolted, as she held him in her arms and rushed out of the scene. When he was finally able to recollect himself, he expected to be in the safe confines of their home with its familiar bamboo tatami mats and ugly vegetable garden his mother insisted on growing. However, things took a turn for the worse when he realized that she had not stopped at their doorstep.

When he realized that they were standing in front of Kakashi's home, the man himself already clad in his nightwear and tiredly rubbing his eyes in confusion, he knew something was completely wrong.

Hushed words were passed between the two adults.

He watched as the silver-haired man's facial expressions switched from various phases. First it went from curiosity, and then his brows furrowed as he seemed to listen intensely, and then a frown line in the eyes appeared as he nodded his head in what seemed to be understanding, and then he reached out as his mother passed him on to the man's open arms.

"W-Wait, mama, what's going on?" He stammered, watching her retreating figure walk away to the shadows.

She only turned towards him, never saying a word.

"Mama? W-Where are you going?" He was getting more frantic each passing moment.

Kakashi looked upon him, with indifferent eyes, still holding onto him as he nodded towards his mother.

Teresa reached out and caressed his cheeks. "Don't worry. I'll be back. You stay with Kakashi, just like when you sleep over when I have those missions. Do you understand?"

"W-What? No, no, mama. Please, don't leave me. Where are you going?"

He did not understand what was going on. Why was she suddenly leaving him? What did he do? Was she not going to comeback? He felt desperate now, desperate in need for answers. Nothing was making sense. The adults only wore grim faces and failed to answer any of his burgeoning questions. He just wanted to go home, wanted to curl up next to his mother and fall asleep.

She kissed him on the forehead before turning away.

"Wait! Where are you going? Mama don't go! Please don't go! Don't leave me! Please! Don't leave me! Don't leave me...Don't leave me!"

Before he could blink the tears that threatened to spill forth from his eyes, she was gone.

* * *

Naruto jolted up from his bed.

The familiar rush of regaining consciousness had begun to clear his senses as he searched aimlessly in his darkened room. Immediately, the lights had flickered on and his mother stood in his doorway with a concerned look upon her countenance. She crossed her arms and frowned before sweeping towards his bed to sit on the side. His breathing settled into a steady inhale as he felt her hand grasp onto his.

It was all a dream.

"I felt your distress," she said knowingly. "Did you have a bad dream?"

He nodded. "Yeah...It was weird. I feel like it actually happened. Do you ever get those kinds of dreams where you feel like you're reliving memories, like some sort of déjà vu?"

"Mm, yes. But, they are usually memories that I know I can recall."

He wore a pensive look as he drew his knees into his chest and wrapped his arms around them, staring into the walls as if staring into the void. The boy remained quiet for a few minutes before looking up towards her once more.

"Hey, Mom, did you...did you ever leave me at Kakashi's?"

"I've done that plenty of times when you were younger when I would go on overnight missions, so, yes. I believe so."

"No...Remember that one night...you know, the night when that massacre happened...you know, the one with the Uchiha's. I don't remember much of it now, but I think that's what I remembered in my dream. You left me to stay at Kakashi's, right?"

Something flashed within her eyes, a look of understanding, and she nodded solemnly. "Ah, yes...That was so long ago though, it's been years now that I think about it. I did leave you to stay there after we had dinner. Something had come up."

"...But you did it abruptly, I-I remember now," he said with his face scrunched up. "Mom...did you, did you go because you knew something was gonna happen that night?"

"...Yes...Yes, I did. If I can recall, you had sensed something in the air that night too. Do you remember?"

"Yeah...Mom, what happened that night?"

Teresa sighed, not one for indulging in some storytelling in the middle of the night.

However, she supposed that she owed him an explanation because after that night, she never really did divulge the truth behind what occurred. The kunoichi simply remembered picking Naruto up in the morning and allowing him to stay home from the academy that day. He never questioned her after that, but she felt that he had an inkling of what had transpired from the very start. Now, she supposed she owed him that explanation.

Teresa cleared her throat, stretching her palms over her lap as she did this.

 _"Naruto, what do you remember from that night?"_

* * *

It was uncharacteristically hotter that summer evening. The air felt stickier with humidity even more so than usual. Teresa felt it seeping through her skin, her bones.

They were walking home from Ichiraku, having had a filling dinner in celebration of Naruto's perfect taijutsu practice examination score.

Perhaps it was the heat that had dulled her senses. Perhaps it was the reposeful ambiance of the aftermath of dinner. Perhaps it was her subconscious coping mechanism of denying the truth—Teresa always did say that ignorance was bliss. She was not truly certain what had mitigated her senses from its usual sharpness that night, and frankly, if she tried to delve too deep into it, she would give herself a headache.

In truth, she would invariably allow some of her most repressed issues to resurface to the forefront of her mind again. Because whenever it revolved around _him_ , things were sure to get ugly, very ugly indeed. Not one for idling too much in vanity, Teresa supposed that this issue was but an exception. When she thought about her twisted connection with him, she only thought about the ugliness of the world. The way it was able to turn something that was once so beautiful into something that made her stomach clench in repugnance.

Her head was filled with ruins. Most of them she had built with him. A genuine friendship, not contrived from mere acquaintanceship with organizations, but one that had blossomed from pure trust. And from that camaraderie, grew a love in the purest form—one that only few had been privy to with Shimura Teresa. His memory that once stood like a golden pillar in the hall of her greatest loves, with Clare being there and now Naruto; had crumbled into dust. Every now and then, the dust would swirl around the proverbial chambers of her mind, inciting small memories she had once shared with his former-self.

However, for the past couple of years, the memories had began to surface less frequently until the dust no longer moved altogether. In its place stood a spectre, an echo of the former memories that she likened to a ghost. It was safe to say that her mind had opted on preserving that ghost. She felt that was all she had, the ghost of his former-self. That one pure memory.

So when she concentrated all her senses to check for any disturbances that night, she did not expect to feel that familiar flame.

Though carefully concealed as it was, she was able to grasp at its presence like the blacksmith to his hearth. There was absolutely no doubt how recognizable this chakra signature was. It was the very same signature she had once become so accustomed to in her more formative years as a kunoichi.

 _It was him._

Her eyes had flashed open and she had to restrain the surge of emotions that threatened to spill over her better judgement. Her heart began to pulsate in a rapid pace. There was anger there. Confusion. And a great deal of hurt. But, Shimura Teresa was a calm and collected shinobi, able to throw herself into battle without so much as batting her eyes.

Thus, she had carefully gathered Naruto in her arms to bring him to safety—her best idea? Kakashi's home.

"Teresa, why are you at my house?" The man queried curiously. He wore a tired look upon his face, but it failed to hide his true concern.

"Something's going to happen tonight. There is a threat within the village, I have to take care of it and I won't feel better if Naruto's not safe."

"What do you mean? What's happening?"

"I'm...I'm not sure exactly, but I can sense something ominous. I just know these things, Hatake. You've seen this before, will you trust me?"

He nodded, accepting her words at face-value. "Should we alert the hokage?"

"No...For some odd reason, I have a feeling that there are domestic issues occurring at hand. Hokage-sama may already be aware of this and chances are he's allowing it. I know there's something wrong. I need to go."

"But then we shouldn't worry about it, right?"

"No. I told you, Hatake, something is wrong. I can sense it. Something bad is going to happen tonight."

The man eyed her warily, looking intently into her eyes as if searching for something. Finally, for what seemed like forever, he nodded his head in acquiescence and brought his outstretched arms forward for her to hand Naruto to. He believed her for what it was worth and for that, she was grateful.

"Thank you, Kakashi."

She reached over and squeezed his hand slightly, surprising the silver-haired man, before leaning forward to kiss Naruto goodbye. The boy began to protest and Teresa almost felt like staying, but her senses were urging her to leave, screaming at her even. Every vein, every fiber in her being ached terribly, telling her the telltale signs of something malicious approaching. Silently, she had come to the decision that above all, she wanted to keep Naruto safe, and to do so, she had to keep the village safe.

Trying to ignore the child's cries, with a heavy heart, she had stormed away.

There was only one thing on her mind, _find him._

She allowed her instincts to guide her, allowed that intrinsic pull of energy to cling on to its desired target and flow towards it like a bolt of energy. She felt her inner ki undulate like waves within, pulling her along as her muscles followed the neurotransmitters within the mind. Every spark of energy flowed through, every muscle picked up on the wave, and conductively, Teresa was pulled towards that familiar chakra signature.

She jumped, leaped, ran through the village—veering off buildings and turning various corners as if she had already known her path. That pull, that electric pull, took her around the village, and soon she was beginning to recognize a familiar path. Down the main road, turning off the corner from the street market, edging towards the very outskirts...And then Teresa found herself in a particular part of the village that she had not come near to in nearly ten years.

She was in the Uchiha District.

Although, a strange sight was what met her eyes. The streets were eerily quiet, deserted from the lack of chakra signatures from a mile radius away. The back of her spine began to prickle with the familiar sensation of drawing nearer to her target. She felt it. It was close, _oh so close._ But why had it led her to a deserted area?

Cautiously, Teresa hid behind the shadows as she continued towards the mysterious chakra source. Her inherent perceptions had also informed her of something amiss with the entire district. Something had happened and if it had not occurred yet, it would be soon. There was something in the air that night, something evil lurking behind the shadows of the sky; ready to sink it's teeth in and draw blood. That was what she felt.

She rushed ahead and within seconds she grasped onto that familiar spark. With her eyes blinking open and her hands instinctively unsheathing her sword, Teresa found herself in the front of the Uchiha Police Department building. Her breath hitched in her throat as she had heard a waning scream echo from within. Surveying the building, the kunoichi noticed several splatters of blood tainting the glass windows. Indeed, something was terribly wrong about all of this. Suddenly a single kunoichi had ran towards her, holding a desperate look on her face.

"T-Teresa-sama, is...is that you?" The girl cried out, blood and tears all over her face. "H-Help, please! There's a man who came in and killed all the officers...I don't know what to...I don't know..."

Instinctively, Teresa grabbed her by the shoulder and drew the girl behind her to protect her. If this girl managed to run out of there, whatever it was that was terrorizing that building was sure to follow right after.

She stepped forward, ready to rush inside, before the entrance door cautiously creaked open.

Though her suspicions were confirmed to be true, she still managed to lose her breath at the sight of the figure before her.

Her voice grew cold and her eyes narrowed dangerously as she tightened her protective grip on the Uchiha girl behind her.

 _"You..."_ she hissed.

He sauntered out clad in black robes like before. However, this time he had taken on a new appearance it would seem. Obito had donned an orange mask with a swirl design similar to his white one. His hair had been grown out too, reaching down to his back like an ebony Mane. Though his face was obscured she knew it was him, she knew his chakra like the back of her hand even though now it was distorted to appear as if it was not his own.

"T-Teresa..." his voice was low, and she detected a sliver of surprise running through its timbre. "I didn't know you would be here."

There was a dull ache in her chest steadily blossoming as she continued to listen to his voice, but anger soon followed. "You're a terrible liar. You know what I am capable of, you know that I can sense everything. If you think you can fool me like you did in Kiri, you'd be an imbecile to try it again," she intoned with an icier voice. "What are you doing here?"

He cocked his head slightly. "I told you, I'm making a better world. Don't you understand?"

Teresa's gaze drifted off towards the building behind him, the one with its windows splattered in blood. "And those bodies, those shinobi you killed. This is making a better world? I thought you knew better than that."

"A few lives are but a small cost for the end results. If I have to kill those who are in my way, then I am willing to make that sacrifice."

"You are a fool."

"You just don't understand...I don't think you'll ever understand."

Something dangerous flashed within her eyes as she heard him speak.

"Four years. It's been four years. All those years, you hid in the shadows, continued to leave devastation in your wake," she watched as he was slightly pulled aback by her words," don't think I was ignorant of what has been going on in those villages. That organization, those shinobi from Amegakure. It wasn't difficult to put two and two together that you were behind this, continuing to pull the strings. The art of subtlety is not your strong suit."

He looked down at the ground, clenching his fists.

"...So, you've heard of the Akatsuki?"

Teresa gave him a sad look. "Why? Why did you do it? Why do you continue to do this? Why can't you just come back and make peace with yourself?" She cleared her throat, trying to disguise the tremble in her voice. "I know it's difficult to come to terms with it. Death is devastating. You should know, I've spilled my heart out to you about the loss of my loved one. About the loss of my humanity...And yet...Here you are, continuing in this vain attempt at some futile mission. You can't take back their deaths, you can't take back _her_ death."

"S-Stop! Stop it!" He barked. "You don't know what you're talking about!"

"I don't know what I'm talking about? I don't know? How can you say that with a clear conscience? I've lost Clare! I had lost my life! I-I've lost you! How can you look me in the eye and tell me that?" She was yelling now.

"All this suffering in your life, and not once had you tried to fix it. Not once did you try to do something about it, to shout back at the world. You just stood there and kept walking like some dead woman. You just kept going. But me? I'm trying to do something about it. I'm trying to fix all the things that life had wronged me with!"

"Is that what you think you're doing? By killing all these people who you used to care about? I know what you did! You killed Naruto's father, a man who cared so deeply about you! You...You might as well have killed me when you left. How dare you disparage my ways of coping with my suffering. I kept on moving because I knew that kicking dirt at my feet would get me nowhere. I had the capacity to understand that I had to move on. But you? You're a worthless cause."

"...If that's what you think, then so be it."

Teresa sniffed, trying to hold back a tear that was threatening to spill. "You used to listen to me. You used to listen to me like it meant the world to you...never taking it with a grain of salt. But now...What happened to you? What happened to the boy I used to love?"

He bowed his head, silent for a moment.

"...I...I know that no matter what I do to try to convince you, you'll never listen. You'll never try to understand. I loved you, Teresa, but if your ideals can't align with my vision, then I can't have anything to do with you anymore," he finally said.

That was it. Those words had been the final conclusion. Obito was gone. The dust had completely blown away, the ghost was disappearing now.

"I don't know who you are anymore," she whispered as a single tear fell from her eye. It trailed down the slopes of her face, running slowly.

Obito cocked his head. "That girl—are you hiding her from me?"

She gritted her teeth, roughly wiping the tear from her cheek to regain composure. The kunoichi behind her had been quivering in fear this entire time. "Protecting her from you, yes, yes I am. No innocent life should be taken away at your hands, not on my watch. If I have to cut you down, I will."

Her hand clutched onto the hilt of her sword devastatingly tighter.

"Teresa..." His voice grew uncharacteristically softer and it made her heart crack, just a little. "I don't want to fight you."

He stepped closer and in one fluid second, she had already held the girl closer with one hand and unsheathed her sword to point at his neck with the other. "Step any closer and I'll have to kill you."

"Why...Why are you doing this, Teresa?"

"I should be asking you that same question."

Obito drew back, his shoulders slumping in weariness. "I spoke to your grandfather," he began and Teresa's eyes widened slightly at the mention of him.

"What?"

He folded his hands behind his back, the chains he had been clutching clanked loudly on the floor. "The Uchiha have been planning a coup d'état for some time now. The village council has been aware of this, and of course that means the hokage is...Your grandfather is instrumental in swaying the council's support. In a sense, he has the power to enforce things that level that of the hokage," he swung the chains in his hands idly as he spoke," The Uchiha have committed treason against this village. Your grandfather orchestrated the commencement of their elimination. And I'm here to simply help the shinobi whose meant to execute the village's agenda." He looked back towards the police department building as if to showcase his work.

Teresa felt anger rise in her throat at the mention of her grandfather's heinous acts. But what had really echoed in her mind was the mention of another shinobi.

"So you're using this shinobi as a pawn, aren't you? To kill an entire clan—for Kami sake, this is your clan!"

"Was," he corrected. "It was...But not anymore..."

"If you're meant to kill the manpower of the clan...Where is your shinobi now?"

Obito sighed. "Itachi is finishing off the rest of the job of course."

She knew that name. Her mouth opened in momentary shock as her deductions processed through her mind.

"The civilians," she finished.

He nodded. "Now, Teresa, I told you I didn't want to fight you," he looked back at the building behind him once more," and as of now, my job here is finished. That kunoichi you so desperately want to protect? Consider her spared. But if Itachi sees her he won't hesitate to kill. Best be sure to keep her with you."

She felt an influx of his chakra prick at her skin and suddenly, the air around him began to swirl. His body was becoming intangible as his eye began to distort the air surrounding him.

Teresa stepped forward, hand reaching out reflexively to touch his hand and she noticed that despite it all, he reached out for her too, but it was as if running it through mere air. She went right through him.

As the swirl of air blew her hair around, with the realization of his departure finally weighing on her mind, Teresa could not help but feel tears prick at the corners of her eyes. Each time she saw him, what with the way he was now, it felt like he was dying all over again. This may not be the Obito she once knew, but hidden under the malicious intent, she believed he was still there. Simply lost.

"I'm...I'm going to miss you..." She said quietly.

When she said this, it was as if she were saying her final goodbyes to the ghost that once echoed in her memories. For so long she had thought that it still belonged to her, that she still kept the ghost of him in the blurred lines of her mind. But she was wrong, he was really gone.

Before he could fully disappear into the spiraling void, she saw his eye peeking from his mask look directly upon her.

 _"I'm still there,"_ he intoned before vanishing in thin air.

At his departure, Teresa quickly turned towards the kunoichi behind her. At a more cursory glance, she noticed that the girl was somewhere around thirteen or fourteen years old, a teenager. She was clad in purple shinobi wear and had long brown hair despite her clan's trademark ebony tresses. A look of fear had been settling in the lines of her face.

"What's your name?" Teresa queried.

"Uchiha Izumi, Teresa-sama. I-I'm a chunin and I work for the shrine," the girl stammered out as she clung to the kunai she had been holding in a timid manner.

"Izumi, I'm going to need you to run away as far as possible. Chances are, you won't find refuge within the Hokage Tower, but if you must, you can hide in my home. Teresa dug into her weapon holster and ripped a piece of scroll out to write down the address," Here are the directions. Keep your chakra as hidden as possible—you may have been spared, but there is still one more shinobi who is after your head," she shoved the paper into the girl's hand," Go. Now."

Izumi nodded her head and took off to the streets and Teresa prayed that the girl would make it to safety by the end of the night.

She turned back to look ahead at the Uchiha compound. Though it was seemingly quiet, she knew that the boy that Obito had mentioned was somewhere there finishing off the rest of the civilians.

With her mind made up, Teresa knew what she had to do.

She had to stop Uchiha Itachi.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** It has been quite a long time. But, I'm still here.


	9. Chapter 8: Itachi

**Chapter Eight: Itachi**

 _"We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print. It gave us more freedom. We lived in the gaps between the stories."_

* * *

Bodies—they littered the earthen floor like a jumbled heap of blood and limbs.

The blood, it was everywhere. It tainted the earth, tainted the walls, tainted the floors. It's pungently sweet irony aroma felt particularly familiar this time, reminding her of death; moreover, her own death. This was the work of a master's blade, this was the work of a walking nefarious force.

A dark impetus had tinged the walls and floors, along with the blood. The color red was something quite ugly to behold, slack-jawed and torn up, the color spilled forth from the roots of flesh and down to the roots of the earth. It was but yet another cycle unceremoniously cut too short.

Like an unending road towards the fiery circles of hell, Teresa traversed the compound finding new bodies every corner she turned. She ran with a sense of desperation, searching buildings in a vain attempt to find any survivors. The lack of chakra that was gradually dissipating by the minute was but a testament to this.

She had to admit, he had done the job efficiently, with a meticulous precision that made sure for a zero percent survival rate. This was the work befitting that of an experienced shinobi, a child prodigy—whom in the hands of the Village, was a dangerous threat.

Teresa surveyed yet another home with bodies littering its rooms.

She sighed tiredly to herself, stepping forward to lay her hand upon the face of a dead young woman lying on the kitchen floor, whose eyes were frozen in shock.

Idly, she imagined her death as one of complete surprise.

Perhaps she had been standing in the kitchen preparing dinner, staring out into the moon as it scintillated in its waning phase. Across from the yard and lurking within the shadows crouched a pubescent boy, no older than fourteen years of age, staring dangerously across the fence.

Perhaps she blinked and within seconds, the figure had disappeared, and all too quickly, the door had been broken into and he had snuck up from behind. The placement of the deep cut down her neck that had sliced clean through the carotid artery indicated that he had brought his sword through her neck from the back.

Teresa ran her hand over the cold flesh of the woman's countenance, and closed the woman's eyes for one last time.

No one deserved to die with such a petrified look upon their face.

In the hands of the Village, a child prodigy was a ticking time bomb, ready to explode without a moment's notice.

 _A dangerous threat indeed._

Unable to continue on this futile search for survivors, Teresa stepped outside and kneeled on the ground. With her palm laying flat upon the earth, she closed her eyes in concentration in order to follow the flow of chakra that ran through the compound. There were ten people still alive, she blinked, now there were eight. With each passing minute she could feel the lifelines ending in a rapid, almost anticlimactic rate. At this point, the boy was simply cutting them down. She had to stop him.

There were six left.

Teresa concentrated her ki, allowing it to flow through her nodes freely this time. If she released just this much, chances are, any able bodied shinobi would be able to detect her presence in seconds. She wanted him to know she was here. As she unleashed her ki, her eyes flashed, pupils constricted into slits, while the irises turned a glowing yellow in color. The ki pumped through the body, surging through her veins as she used it to guide her towards him.

There were three left.

* * *

Cold.

He had to make himself cold, had to numb himself enough to be able to do it. To cut down the ones he had come to know since birth, the ones that he too had come to love.

Danzō, the council, the Village, had placed upon him a burden far heavier than any shinobi could ever shoulder. As much as he wanted to believe that he was still a child, he had given that title up long ago as soon as he accepted that offer into the ANBU. No child should have to kill their parents for the greater good, no shinobi should have to kill their entire clan to repent for the sins they had committed against the Village.

And yet, this was an ordeal he knew he had to undergo.

No matter how much he abhorred the idea of violence, the village had given him no choice. Otherwise, the Uchiha clan as a whole, including himself and Sasuke, would be committed for treason against the Village. They would be tried under the most heinous of acts, betraying the Village. Execution was the given punishment, if no other party were to be able to testify for them, and he knew for certain that no one in this village would be willing to do so. They hated the Uchiha. And in turn, the Uchiha had been ostracized from the collective as a whole—institutionally pushed into their own corner through the complex game of politics. With this alienation, grew a hatred like no other.

As someone who was so greatly attuned to the spectrum of human thought-processes, it was difficult for the young Uchiha to fully come to terms with the injustices of the world. He had understood both sides. On one hand, the Uchiha had every right to feel hatred from the alienation, and on the other hand, the Village had every right to commit them to treason for going against the foundation.

He did not know why Uchiha Madara had embarked on the mission to help. Frankly, he did not know that the man was still alive. But when the masked man approached him and offered his hand at executing the clan officials and its enforcers, Itachi could only accept without hesitation. Truth be told, if he were to kill the entire a clan all by himself, the task would have been much more intensive to begin with.

And the Village had given him no other choice in the matter—it was either kill or be killed.

Above all, sacrificing Sasuke's life was something he promised that he would never do. He would always protect his baby brother no matter what, that was the choice he made since the boy had been born all those seven years ago.

So he continued to slice through the ones whom he had come to care for.

Without so much as blinking his eyes, he had used his sword as the judge that weighed upon those who had wronged the Village. Killing mother and father had been particularly the hardest. From the very moment he began this mission, he had no problem cutting down the rest. Numbing himself from his natural empathy had helped immensely.

But, once he stumbled upon his own home, things were different. His father's last words would forever haunt his memory. And yet, despite it all, he had to pick up his bearings and continue on.

With his sword as the gravel, and his mission as his influence, Itachi continued to kill with no remorse. Later within his life, he knew he would greatly regret every action made upon this night. He had every feeling that later on, this would haunt him as one of his most frightening nightmares. However, that meant nothing if it meant that through every action, he would be closer to saving Sasuke.

With a dull finality, Itachi had come across the last house. It was his great aunt's house, the one where his older cousins had lived in as well. The one where he grew up in.

He sucked in another breath, hand gripping tightly onto his katana.

Suddenly, he felt an immense wave of chakra pervade his senses. It was frighteningly powerful, so much that he had never felt anything like it. And yet, something about it was calming, he felt the sea when it seeped into his bones.

Someone else was in the compound, someone who he knew that he could possibly die fighting. This was not good. He had to finish the mission as quickly as possible.

Breaking the door open, his great aunt Masako had been sitting on the tatami mats, paralleling that of his parents—but rather, the woman was praying in silence. At his tumultuous entrance, the elderly woman had not even looked up, but simply continued to pray.

His cousin Souji had come running from the kitchen, a startled expression had played upon his countenance. His eyes immediately fell upon Itachi's blood-stained blade.

"Itachi...What are you doing?" The older man queried in a mixture of sadness, confusion, and above all else, fear. It hurt Itachi to hear him say this in such a desperate way.

Within seconds, Itachi charged forward and sliced cleanly through his cousin's neck. Blood splattered across his hands, covering them like a sheath of rusted red.

His great aunt looked up from her prayers, with a look that conveyed that she had already known what he was up to from the very start. It was the look of acceptance. Something had pulled at his chest as he looked upon the wizened woman with sad eyes. His other cousin Kagome came running from the hallway, and Itachi turned towards her, readying his sword.

He rushed towards her with a swiftness unmatched.

When he brought his katana down upon her, a loud clang had reverberated through the air. Like metal against metal as it screeched to a stop. He had to blink twice to register another blade that had stopped his in mid thrust, with a figure looming above him like a frightening spectre. His eyes widened as he met the glowing golden eyes of Konoha's very own war hero.

As if appearing through thin air, Shimura Teresa stood between him and Kagome like a menacing pillar. It was her chakra that he had felt within the compound and now at such a close proximity, he felt the full heaviness of it all. It prickled at his skin. He only felt her chakra minutes ago, thinking he would have enough time to evade her and finish off the rest of the clansmen, but he was wrong. Completely wrong.

The blonde kunoichi gazed down upon him with half-lidded eyes, but there was something lurking within the inhuman slits of her pupils, something dark, something that made him shiver despite himself.

"Sorry, I can't let you do that," she intoned emotionlessly.

It was chilling, that inflectionless voice—she was not dubbed the Silver-Eyed Witch for nothing he supposed. But the strangest thing was that her eyes were not silver, in fact they were a glowing yellow, almost golden in color. The pupils were constricted like that of something inhuman. Like a monster. And this immense chakra—it engulfed him in whole, the earth seemed to quake below at their feet. She was no witch, far from it, she was a monster.

Before he could even recollect himself, a sudden force had sent him flying through the walls as she kicked him square in the chest. He spat blood upon the sheer force of the impact.

"...Teresa-sama..." He said in disbelief as she appeared standing above him with that same look in her eye. "Madara...Where's Mada—?"

"Gone."

"What are you doing here?"

"Saving the last three innocent people who are about to become yet another pawn in this village's agenda," she replied as she pointed her blade to his neck.

"You're too late," he coughed up the rest of the blood in his throat," There's only two left, I've killed the other."

"No, I am aware of that. If you can count, there are three people within the vicinity—four if you count me. But I'm not counting myself tonight, Itachi."

 _He did not understand._ "What do you mean?"

"You're one of the pawns, boy. This village has created monsters and tonight they've created yet another one. It's a rouse, there is no peace. I suppose that was all you wanted, correct? Temporarily, perhaps there will be. But, I believe you're smart enough to understand that there will never be. Not under the Village, not ever in the life we live."

Honing his speed, Itachi disappeared from under her blade and came to stand across from her, readying his sword.

"Teresa-sama, I have to finish this mission. If you get in my way, I'm afraid that we will have to fight."

She smiled faintly, yellow eyes flashing in the darkness of the night.

However, the kunoichi blinked a few times and the color had disappeared altogether, reverting back to the silver synonymous to her reputation. The heavy feeling of her immense chakra had too dispersed in the wind, if not lowered in comparison, as her eyes returned to normal. Why would she revert back to normal in the onset of a fight? What happened to that heaviness of her chakra? Moreover, what was the point of releasing that much chakra if she was not set on using it? All of these queries had ran through the boy's mind as he struggled to understand the kunoichi's motives. She was legendary among the shinobi world for her avant garde take on combat, known to be erratic when it came to fighting her opponents. There was no telling what she would do from here on out.

"If you want to kill those last two women in that house, you're going to have to get through me first if I can help it."

His eyes switched to a stark deep red, with the irises now taking on a different shape as he triggered his mangekyo sharingan. Something tugged at his chest as he blinked several times to accommodate the new eye he was recently given. He felt Shisui's eyes adjusting to the new surroundings, to every nuance of chakra around him.

"Fine."

Itachi grunted before rushing towards her with his katana aimed at her heart.

* * *

There was a loud clash as metal came in contact with metal, sparks ignited from the impact of the two as they screeched against one another.

His eyes had taken on a familiar shade of blood red as he switched on his clans infamous kekkai genkai. She could feel the chakra flow from his sharingan, but this was much more different. This was no simple sharingan, its power was far too strong to be comparable. The ki she sensed within these eyes reminded her very much of Obito's.

The boy was fast as he came charging towards her with his blade, but she was able to block its oncoming thrust in the nick of time. She allowed her ki to flow through her body in a coordinated pace, enough to enhance her movements without triggering a full-on outpour of the raw unbridled ki within. Concentrating the energy into her arms, she ducked below his attack and jutted her shoulder out to tackle him out of the way. As it came into contact with his stomach, she sent him flying once more and he somersaulted backwards to balance himself from landing face first into the hard ground.

"There's no use in carrying out the village's crimes, by the end of the night you'll be labeled as a murderer—you'll be known as the shinobi who executed the purge of his own clan. They'll wipe their hands clean of the blood and you'll be the one blamed solely for this. Once this is all over, they'll put you in the bingo books as a show of power," Teresa informed as he dusted himself off.

"That's a sacrifice I'm willing to make," Itachi gritted out.

He came running at her and lurched forward, cocking his fist back only to punch thin air each time he repeated the motion. Teresa on her part had been dodging and weaving through the barrage of punches and kicks effortlessly, until the boy flipped back and procured eight kunai in mid air. They came flying her way from seemingly out of nowhere and as she dodged through the onslaught of trajectories, they exploded in a domino effect.

The blast from the impact sent her veering off into the side before she pulled herself back to flip towards the ground and maintain her balance.

He suddenly appeared behind her and already having sensed his presence before he even moved, Teresa twisted her arm back and grabbed him by the shoulder. With one hard tug, she flipped him over herself and slammed him to the ground with enough force to cause the floor beneath them to quake and give in.

"Whatever the hokage has told you, whatever my grandfather has said to convince you to do this—it's all a lie. Killing the perpetrators off is not the only solution to a coup, there are other ways. There are more reasonable methods of punishment, what they told you was completely wrong," she continued.

"I...have no choice. If I didn't go through with the execution, they would've killed us anyway...they would've killed my little brother! My clan was planning to overthrow the Village and...and then a civil war would've broke out. There's no other way!" The boy had tears in his eyes now, but that did not stop him from concentrating his chakra to push her off of him.

"Don't let this village brainwash you into thinking that murder is the only solution. Violence does not solve the issue, violence begets only violence," Teresa argued as she stood up and drew her sword back to block his katana," They may have given you an ultimatum, but going through with the execution of your clan is not the only way!"

Itachi quickly began to mould a few hand signs and before she knew it, a swirl of fire came bursting out of his mouth.

Before the immense flames could engulf her in whole, Teresa moulded her own hand signs as per one of the newly refined attacks she had been developing. Within milliseconds, she had moulded her hands into _monkey...bore...ox...dragon..._

And with rapid succession, bursts of razor sharp gusts of wind had formed from her finger tips blowing the fire away as it managed to reach her intended target. Itachi had dodged the barrage of cutting winds not before barely missing the last of it. His arm was cut deeply and now bleeding.

Nonetheless, the boy pressed on. He came charging back at her and swung his katana towards her as she blocked it with her own blade.

They went back and forth, exchanging blows with their swords so swiftly that their blades were barely visible to the naked eye as the ground beneath them had shook from the power of their strikes. Teresa parried and blocked each slice, and Itachi matched her blade, faltering slightly, but managing on his own nonetheless.

The boy had brilliant skill and so much unbridled potential, she could see it in the way he was able to fight toe-to-toe with her, even though she had been holding back. She had a feeling that in a few years, the boy would be unmatched in his own way; a force to be reckoned with. At this point right now, he was already, but not everything had been fully unlocked. There was invariably more to come.

"I understand that at hand there are sacrifices that must be made, the politics behind the village have a way of pushing one into the corner with no other chances of getting out..."Teresa reasoned. "But not at the expense of killing hundreds of people, not at the expense of pushing genocide in a political agenda that lacks any foundation of peace. Your brother? You wanted to save him, correct? Then don't let him grow up without a family, without a clan. You should know how devastating the psychological effects on his development will be after you leave here tonight. Allow him some sort of repose...If you spare those last two of your clan, there's a possibility that he won't grow up abandoned. If you spare them, then perhaps we can end this. I don't want to fight you, Itachi."

Teresa wanted to end it here and now, before things escalated even further. She had a feeling that he had not showcased his full abilities quite yet and once he did, things would get messy if she had to combat him at full force.

She watched as the boy's eyes widened, a conflicted expression appeared on his face as he mulled over her words. His blade halted in mid air as he seemed to listen intently to her now.

"B-But...Danzō...Hokage-sama...What will I do if they discover that I spared two people? They strictly commanded me to execute the entire clan, save for Sasuke...If I go back on their orders...They'll kill the last two regardless."

"Let me deal with the consequences. Village politics calls for a third party that can testify for a defendant's innocence. I can do it. After all, they are civilians, not shinobi. It was the shinobi and the main house who most likely had the power to plot a coup d'état, not the civilians. The fact that the council still called for the entire clan's execution including civilians is absolutely deplorable."

His sword fell to the ground with a loud clash. "But what if—?"

"It was I who interfered with the execution, under the pretense of not knowing the truth. Spare those last two and go. Run as far away as possible. If you are to report to the hokage, so be it. Just leave."

"But why? Why would you help them...why would you help _me?"_

"I know what it's like to be a pawn for an organization that is built on the foundations of corrupt power. Though seemingly right and just, Konoha is not what it appears to be. We are born to follow under its totalitarian ideologies, we are a people born into a warrior society. However, we also have the right to tell truth to power. Like you, I simply want peace. And yes, violence is a given in the life we live, but when you know that circumstances are simply unjust; then the status quo must be changed. We cannot kill hundreds of people simply because they do not align with Village politics. A trial would have been more reasonable, even exile would have been far more reasonable. Not death. Not like this."

"They told me there was no other way," he whispered harshly as he glared at the ground. "I had to listen. My loyalties had to remain with the Village in order to maintain peace."

"There is no true peace for Konoha. On a surface-level, perhaps. But in truth, there is none."

He kneeled to the ground and tentatively picked up his katana, gazing intently at the reflection of the moon that had shone against the sleek metal still stained with blood. "This is the life we have to live, isn't it?" He muttered sadly.

"Yes, it is."

"No matter what we do—war, violence, it will always find its way..."

"It is the harsh reality of our existence as shinobi."

The young Uchiha looked beyond her and into the darkness where the dim light of the compound's lanterns had gone fully off.

"I can't take back what I did today..." his voice trailed off.

"No, you can't. But what you can do now is leave. Leave this place and don't look back. Go."

The boy tentatively sheathed his katana, turning away from her to look out into the house that held the Uchiha clan's last clansmen.

"That's my great aunt in there, my grandmother's sister. My grandmother died before my brother and I were born, so we always considered her like a grandmother. My cousin is in there too," he mused wistfully.

Teresa's eyes widened slightly as she heard the child's words. Knowing that those were his real kin had changed her entire perspective on the situation. Initially, she had thought that the boy had no connection with the women other than their shared surname. She was wrong.

"...Thank you...Teresa-sama...You saved my family today, you saved me from doing something I would regret even further..." Itachi murmured as he turned back towards her. There were tears in his eyes.

Teresa nodded her head solemnly.

"My brother Sasuke is somewhere around here still...If you find him, please take care of him," The young shinobi continued.

"You have my word."

The boy smiled at her, eyes squinting in a genuine look of gratitude.

"Thank you," He said with finality before vanishing in the still of the night.

Teresa looked out towards the trees, knowing he had run far off into the forest. She wondered if this was his last time stepping foot in the Village, the poor child. It was unfair of the village to ask so much of such a young boy. But then again, this was the same village that had been forcing child soldiers to partake in the Third Shinobi World War. Her generation had been victimized under its ideals and this boy was yet another.

She sighed to herself. It was a fruitless endeavor.

Teresa looked off into the side, as she sheathed her blade back into its holster.

"You can come out now," she called out.

The bushes beside her began to rustle and a small boy gingerly stepped out. There were tear stains on his cheeks as he looked up at her with frightened eyes.

 _"Brother is gone now, isn't he?"_ The little boy queried in a quiet voice.

She nodded, holding out her hand towards him. "You must be Sasuke, am I correct?"

"...Yes...You're...You're Naruto's mom, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"...Y-You're the only one who came to help...Nobody else was here...Nobody thought about coming here..."

"I had a feeling that something was wrong, so I came here."

"Brother killed them all, he killed everyone didn't he? Mom and dad too..."

"Not everyone, no," she affirmed before gesturing towards the house behind them. "There is a kunoichi I saved who took off to the streets. And there are two left, in there."

"That's Auntie Masako's House," He said with widening eyes. "My cousin Souji and Kagome live there too, there should be three people...there should—"

"The man in there did not make it out alive."

The boy looked startled. "B-But..." he shook his head and proceeded to run towards the house. "Auntie Masako! Auntie!" The boy called out and two figures stepped out of the hole in the wall that Teresa had kicked Itachi through earlier.

The elderly woman and the younger one ran towards the boy before embracing him.

Teresa looked on at the last remnants of the Uchiha family with bereavement before ambling towards them. As she edged closer, the elderly woman looked up towards her and smiled tearfully.

"Thank you for protecting us," Masako cried as she took Teresa's hand in her own. "The gods told me in a dream that Itachi would come, I prayed for his soul to be forgiven. I only pray that he is safe. You didn't...He's not..."

Despite the fact that Itachi had just killed their entire clan, the older woman was still worrying about his safety. She was questioning whether or not Teresa had killed the boy altogether. The notion in itself made Teresa smile reflectively.

"You don't have to worry about that. He escaped before I could even try to," she lied.

The two women sighed in relief, but Sasuke glared at the ground.

"However, there is one more kunoichi that I saved. I have her hiding out somewhere in the village," Teresa informed them.

"There's one more? Oh, thank goodness. Did you happen to get her name? She might be our kin, she might..."

"She told me her name was Izumi."

"Oh, that's Satomi's daughter..." Masako said as she turned towards Kagome. They nodded at each other at the mention of the girl's name.

"We'll have to report to the hokage Tower. I can bring you all there and speak to the council on your behalf. I'm sure at this point, all you want is some rest and a refuge."

Teresa knew for certain that if she were to report to the hokage that she had found these civilians in the aftermath of this massacre that he would have no other choice but to take them in until they could fully sort out what to do.

The women both nodded and Kagome stood up bringing Sasuke into her arms as she helped the elderly woman stand as well.

"Teresa-sama," the woman spoke with tears in her eyes," My mother and I are are so grateful for your help. Thank you for everything you've done."

The silver-eyed kunoichi smiled in turn.

"You're welcome."

* * *

After hours in the interrogation department and following a congregation with the council, including her wretched grandfather, Teresa was finally able to return home. As Teresa entered, she found Izumi curled up on her couch, staring off into nothing in particular.

She sat next to the girl, laying the palms of her hands flat upon her own lap as she stared at them awkwardly. "It wasn't much, but I managed to save two more of your clansmen tonight, I only wish it could have been more," Teresa announced apologetically.

"...It was Itachi-kun, wasn't it? Him and that man...they're responsible for everything. They killed everyone," the girl replied, her voice devoid of emotion.

Teresa nodded.

Izumi sat up and looked at her, grief-stricken.

"T-Teresa-sama...That man— _how did you know him?"_

She felt her eyebrows raise reflexively at the mention of him, but she knew that it was a given. Of course the girl would be inquisitive about what transpired between herself and Obito earlier that evening. She never once explained the circumstances.

"As shinobi, we all keep skeletons in the closet. Comrades and enemies we once knew on our path towards becoming the warrior's we are today. That man...consider him one of those," she replied vaguely.

The girl nodded, accepting her words despite the ambiguity that lied behind them.

"Even so, I'm grateful that you saved me," Izumi said quietly. "If you weren't there, I would've been dead by now...thank you, Teresa-sama."

At that moment, the two women shared an amicable look, a silent agreement that had passed between the eyes and eyes alone.

The girl was gratuitous when it came to giving thanks to her savior, and the woman herself was simply grateful for the opportunity to protect the future of Konoha. Izumi and Sasuke were the last shinobi of the Uchiha Clan, save for Itachi and Obito. The latter of the two had both defected from the village—in escape of the violence that had brought them to such unfortunate circumstances. Because of this, all that was really left for the Uchiha's future was shouldered upon two young shinobi who had not yet fully grasped the true complexities of the world.

Truth be told, Teresa had shared a soft-spot in her heart for the Uchiha Clan. Because of Obito. Because of the knowledge that the clan had the potential to bear children with eyes full of wonder in the same way Obito had once looked upon the world with. She only ever wanted to see that, and in doing so, she found a small inkling of attachment for the clan.

Teresa reached out towards the girl, patting her hair back to console her.

"Rest. You'll need it," she said softly.

And the girl closed her eyes.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** To clarify, the massacre still takes place during the same time as canon. These past chapters have been memories incited from Naruto's dream, these memories took place five years ago.


	10. Chapter 9: A Mother's Intuition

**Chapter Nine: A Mother's Intuition**

 _"Is it a warrior's instinct? ...No, it's more along the lines of a mother's intuition."_

* * *

"Help me with the rice, it hasn't been rinsed yet and I still need to grill the rest of the saury."

"Is it already measured out?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"...Are you positive?"

"Are you deaf? I said what I said."

The sun filtered through the kitchen window, wide-open to let the morning breeze drift in. Diminutive specks of light danced around the wooden countertops of the kitchen as the single clay oven in the center of the room continued to burn and crackle in a comforting rhythm. Two figures bustled around the small space, watching over the bubbling pots. The aroma of the morning's breakfast wafted through the air filling the entire house with the wonderful scent of miso soup and grilled fish.

Teresa heard footsteps shuffling behind her proceeded by the sound of water filling a hollowed rice pot. And then a pause. _"It doesn't look like it's enough..."_

She halted from cutting the fish she had in her hands and frowned. "Yes, it is. For three people? That's plenty of rice," she intoned, irritated at being contradicted for the third time this morning.

Beside her, Kakashi idly stood about, washing the rice with a meticulous precision befitting that of any seasoned shinobi. The light flickered about and washed over his willowy figure.

"Mm...I don't think so," the man replied in an uncharacteristically sing-song voice.

She quirked her brows in curiosity, before the realization settled in as she felt two approaching familiar chakra signatures heading up the street.

"Oh," she mumbled and as if on cue, a knock resounded from the other side of the door that connected the kitchen to the backyard.

"Come in," Teresa called out.

The knocking had unceremoniously stopped and then a shuffling noise had echoed from the window. Suddenly, Naruto came barreling in from the hallway, causing a clamor in his wake as the picture frames hanging in the hallway walls and vases shook in disturbance.

"I heard a knock! They're here!" The boy shouted in excitement.

The window unlatched itself and flew open. As the sun glared brightly spilling forth with its light in full force, two shadows appeared to be crouched precariously off the sill, balancing themselves upright. The figures, both seemed to be prepubescent boys, were dark-haired with pale skin. They wore the same muted expressions of tedium with the exception of the other boy wearing a more apathetic countenance.

"Can't you two ever enter the normal way? You know, by the front door like any other sound person," Kakashi drawled with a roll of his eyes as they ducked their heads and jumped down to the floor one-by-one.

"Sasuke, Shikamaru," Teresa acknowledged in greeting without looking up from filleting the saury.

The boys nodded at her in return before turning towards Kakashi to smirk.

"We wouldn't be shinobi if we entered the normal way, would we sensei?" Shikamaru yawned before making his way towards Naruto with the other dark-haired boy following in suit.

Teresa gave the Uchiha boy a pointed look. "Breakfast here again? Are Izumi and Kagome not feeding you?" She queried almost jokingly.

"They made breakfast, but I decided to come here instead. We have training," the boy said simply.

"Training? Has your sensei authorized you to see Hatake-san?"

"No, we're not training with Kakashi-sensei, mom. We're gonna train together," Naruto chimed in.

She felt herself smile faintly at his words. Naruto tended to quarrel with Sasuke since they were children and the fact that her son was willing to put petty trivialities aside to come to a compromise with the Uchiha boy was a sign of his progression. Naruto was maturing faster than she could have ever dreamed.

"Oh?" Kakashi looked on at the three of the young shinobi in feigned curiosity.

Both boys nodded in unison.

"Yeah, even though Sasuke annoys the shit out of me...he's a good training partner," Naruto conceded.

"Not like I'm going out of my way to see you either," Sasuke countered in apathy.

The Nara boy simply shrugged his shoulders in an attempt to show his agreement, too lazy to even utter a word.

She looked up from her ministrations, finally getting a good look at the trio of boys with the addition of Kakashi standing off in the corner idly watching the rice steam.

An odd surge of peace had swelled within her as she studied each of the occupants in her kitchen. The small wood-framed kitchen with the bamboo sink. The windows that overlooked the grassy fields of the garden that had been steadily cultivated over the course of eight years. The polished pots and pans. An old-fashioned clay oven that burned continuously through the day because she was far too used to her old world customs. It burned brightly, filling the room with its latent heat. However, she was certain that an odd sort of coldness would have devoured it if the other occupants never stepped foot within. Perhaps that old clay oven was not the singular source of this kitchen's warmth.

Perhaps it was the people who were in it that exuded it all.

Her son chatted animatedly with his indolent teammate, a brilliant child and heir to the Nara Clan. Beside them stood another clan heir, one whom she had saved four years ago from becoming a pawn to the Village's malicious agenda—an aloof prodigy whose demeanor reminded her very much of herself. And then there was her old childhood rival, who had taken a shine to coming over to her house every morning for breakfast for the past few years because he was "too lazy to cook a decent meal to break the morning's fast." He was a man of very few words, yet far too many complexities to fully understand.

All of which who possessed an inherent strangeness to their character. All of which had somehow managed to leave their impressions upon her memory, and in some convoluted way, managed to become very constant figures in her life.

Of course, her son would be a given. However, to think that Kakashi of all people and these two other children would be doing the same was almost unfathomable. And yet, despite all preconceived notions aside, here they were. All under one roof. All sharing their habitual breakfast routine together as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

She looked at them all as if she looked upon the world in its entirety, with eyes full of gratification that could never be fully expressed through mere words. The boys all stared back at her in those few passing seconds, not knowing of the myriad thoughts that had been running circles within her mind. There were no words to truly articulate what that swell within her meant. There were no words that could express the peace that enveloped her mind as she looked upon her kitchen full of shinobi who somehow became a part of her life.

Teresa shook herself from this ephemeral thought and gestured towards the boys.

"Well, don't just stand there then. Help set the table. Breakfast is almost ready," Teresa ordered as she nonchalantly waved the knife in her hand around.

And like that, that private moment of introspection was gone.

"Yes, m'am," all three said obediently.

She went back and continued to concentrate slicing the last fish, that synonymous faint smile still lingering on her lips as she looked away.

The boys proceeded to run about the kitchen, opening cabinets and pulling out drawers to procure the necessary utensils.

"Rice is boiling. Ten more minutes and it'll be finished," Kakashi announced, hands in his pockets, with a lackadaisical look about him.

Teresa nodded as she finished grilling up the last of the fish, flipping it over to grill the other side with some chopsticks. She reached around the countertop and stuck her fingers into a clay jar containing sea salt, pinching it up to collect a small amount of coarse salt to sprinkle over the sizzling fish. With the last of the saury finally cooked, she placed it on the serving plate of other cooked fish and handed it over to Naruto.

"Here," she said," Put this on the table."

Sasuke ambled over with five small wooden bowls stacked upon one another, placing it on the counter top beside her. She nodded her head and opened the other pot that had been simmering on the clay oven. Opening a drawer beneath her, she fished for a ladle and removed the lid from the pot. Hot steam immediately escaped from within and the rich scent of miso soup engulfed the kitchen in its entirety as she scooped the hot broth into each small bowl. One by one, each of the boys came to collect their respective bowls with the last being Kakashi.

All four sat around the table as Teresa placed the last plate of blanched vegetables she had harvested from her garden this morning on the table.

"Thanks for the food, Mom."

"Thanks, Teresa-sama."

"Smells great, Shimura-san."

"...Thank you, Teresa-sama."

She nodded her head in acknowledgment and all five of the shinobi ritually began to serve themselves some food. The table had grown quiet as each of its occupants proceeded to consume their fill of food.

"So, how is your family?" Teresa questioned, eyes staring pointedly at a sullen-looking Sasuke, breaking the routine silence of the breakfast table.

Kakashi peered up from his plate and offered the boy a genuine look of interest. Naruto snickered and Shikamaru simply elbowed the boy in some unspoken conversation.

The young Uchiha cleared his throat, setting his chopsticks down. "Fine. Aunt Masako has been getting more and more weak by the day. The doctor has put her on bed rest until she can recover, but we're not so sure whether she will...or not," he said solemnly.

"What are her symptoms?" The masked man beside her queried.

"Fevers, coughing, loss of breath...She can't move much because she's always fatigued and when she does, she breaks out into a cold sweat."

"Pneumonia," Teresa surmised plainly.

"Yes," he nodded. "The doctor said because of her age that most elderly barely recover at this state. Kagome and Izumi tell me that it's only inevitable."

"Last winter was quite harsh. The outbreak of influenza circulating around the Village didn't help either. I supposed she contracted pneumonia from an exacerbated case of the flu," Teresa continued.

"Yes."

"My old man caught the flu during the winter, too. He was bedridden for weeks until he finally recovered. Mom fed him only chicken soup and ginger tea the entire time and once he got better, he told me he could never swallow a drop of chicken soup again," Shikamaru mentioned.

Kakashi and Naruto laughed in unison.

"I caught the flu as well, though I still tried to continue on with my duties," Kakashi offered.

"Yeah, and then you got me sick because you kept coming to training all contagious," Naruto grimaced. "I don't know how Shikamaru never caught that bug you had, even Ino had to stay in for a couple of days."

"Guess I've got a strong immune system."

"Well, my bad. I'm just never one to let some illness keep me from doing my job," the older man shrugged. "I thought to myself, my precious pupils would be so devastated if their sensei couldn't make it to training."

"At the expense of getting your 'precious pupils' sick..." Naruto grumbled.

"Eh, you're fine now. Get over it."

The boy stuck his tongue out at the silver-haired shinobi before the older man reached over to lightly bonk him on the head.

Shikamaru snickered, Sasuke rolled his eyes, and Teresa could not help but chuckle slightly at the scene unfurling before her.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch," the blond whined as he rubbed his head.

"Serves you right."

"You suck, sensei."

Teresa cleared her throat and turned towards Sasuke as her son and Kakashi continued to bicker at one another.

"Well, if it's of any consolation, we'll be praying for Masako's health," Teresa nodded in resolution.

Even if she did not believe in any god, or Kami, or whatever this world decided to systematically believe in, there must have been some sort of divine power lingering on throughout the cosmic dust of the universe responsible for all the inexplainable occurrences that happened in her lifetime. Perhaps these powers that be could listen to their words of supplication. If at all, it was comforting to possess some wishful thinking.

"Thank you, Teresa-sama," Sasuke said quietly.

She gazed at the boy with obsidian eyes. The very same eyes that she used to gaze upon as if the world had been held within the darkness of the irises.

 _Obito.._.

His name, the thought of him, always left a bitter taste in her mouth. Discretely, she gulped down a glass of water next to her plate to alleviate that psychological sensation that still lingered.

Sasuke was different. He was not Obito. They may share the same heritage and clan name, but the narratives were far from similar.

Four years ago, and six months, and three days had passed since the massacre that occurred within the Uchiha compound happened—though, Teresa, liked to pretend that she was not counting. Since then, she had taken Sasuke in when his family could not reach him. On the days when the world seemed black and white and a dull expression would engulf his countenance in its entirety. When no form of compassion or empathy could chisel down the rough edges created by his sorrow. She liked to think that the boy would confide in her because she understood the grim reality of their existence. The grim reality of what it is to be a Shinobi in one of the most powerful villages in all of the elemental nations.

That day led to trigger of events that would change her life forever, and two more orphaned children had unceremoniously tumbled upon her lap. Izumi and Sasuke were now permanent fixtures in her life. She acted as a de-facto maternal figure when there was no one else to turn to. For advice, for compassion, for a hot meal on the table, for anything.

Who knew in this new life that she would ultimately take on a parental role for not just one, but a handful of budding Shinobi? The fates had a twisted way of warping reality, but she could not complain after having lived such a long existence.

"So, what will you boys be doing today? Care to give a breakdown of your training session?" Kakashi queried.

"Well, you did tell me that I need to practice on my chakra control when applying it to hand-to-hand combat..." Naruto began with a roll of his eyes.

"Yeah, something like that."

"Uh huh, so, Shikamaru and Sasuke are going to run some combat drills to warm up and—"

Shikamaru cut in. "Well, I recall that you said Naruto and I both need to work on our fighting dynamic based on team reliance, so...I guess I'm here to practice on just that."

"Asuma-sensei said I need to improve on my taijutsu and seeing as Naruto is rather proficient in hand-to-hand combat, I was thinking that in exchange for that, after the practice drills, I'd help him on his ninjutsu...because he still lacks in that area," Sasuke added as an afterthought.

"Good. I'm glad you're taking my advice on improvements with your...extracurricular practice."

"Well, duh, Kakashi-sensei. Shikamaru and I gotta be in the best shape possible for our first real mission," the blond put an extra emphasis on the term "real."

"...Yeah...I'll admit it when I know that at this point, I won't be physically or mentally prepared for this next mission," Shikamaru conceded.

"I'm just here because I want to train," Sasuke said dully.

Teresa glanced at Kakashi with a curious gaze. She vaguely remembered Naruto telling her how Team Seven would be embarking on a mission soon, but that was only once and he only mentioned it passively in casual conversation one night when she came home from a mission.

"What will the mission be classified as?" Teresa spoke up, deciding to voice her thoughts out in to the open.

"It's a C-Class mission," Kakashi replied. "Nothing too serious, just a simple escort mission in the Land of Waves."

"Ah, that will be quite interesting."

"I hope so..." Naruto muttered.

"So when will you be leaving?"

"Monday, next week. We leave 06:00 sharp."

Teresa arched her brow. "Interesting. I'll be leaving to the Land of Waves on a mission the day before."

"No way, mom. Maybe we'll see 'ya or something," Naruto said cheerfully.

"Hmm...maybe..."

"I didn't know Hokage-sama was sending more shinobi to the Land of Waves."

"Yes, well, I'm supposed to be on a manhunt for a wanted nin. I've heard that someone has been sabotaging the Konoha diplomatic outposts and stealing supplies. One of our shinobi was taken hostage too, I think."

"Will you be going with a team?"

"No, I don't believe so. I think the hokage has allocated all the manpower to Suna, especially since they lost control of their jinchuriki."

"So, no trackers?"

"Nope."

"No targeting team?"

"No."

"Combat support?"

"No, just me."

"Well, doesn't sound like a very traditional manhunt mission," Sasuke murmured.

"During times when hokage-sama has distributed a full-fledged roster of shinobi, we work with what we have," Kaskashi reasoned sheepishly. "Besides, I'm not surprised hokage-sama called for Shimura-san on the pretense of a solo mission—she basically has the skillset to be her own team."

Teresa smirked. "Is that flattery I hear, Hatake-san?"

"Just stating the facts," the one-eyed shinobi reasoned.

"I guess Suna really did take up all the manpower..." Sasuke said grimly.

"Oh, I've heard about that from my pops..." Shikamaru added.

"Heard what?"

"The Kazekage was supposed to be in control of the jinchuriki of the one-tailed beast...but, it seems that he no longer has that control. A third of the village was destroyed during its rampage. They reached out to Konoha for aid," Kakashi drawled.

"So, is the Kazekage a jinchuriki too?" Naruto questioned with widening eyes.

"No. According to our intel, the Kazekage's last child is the biju container."

"Oh, is it a boy or a girl?"

Sasuke's face scrunched up in exasperation. "What does it matter if they're a boy or a girl?"

"I dunno. I'm just wondering," Naruto shrugged.

"A boy. No older than your age. Although, I think perhaps he might be around your age..."

Naruto nodded, a somewhat content expression had overtaken his countenance at the response.

"Why're you smiling?" Sasuke gave him a side-eyed glance.

"Oh, nothing. Why, a guy can't be happy for no reason?"

"I didn't say that." The Uchiha boy rolled his eyes. "I was just wondering why you have that stupid look on your face, that's all. Forget it."

Naruto momentarily frowned before flipping off the other boy. "Shut up, teme. You have a stupid look on your face."

Sasuke glared and Naruto mimed the same expression. They were so close, their foreheads were touching.

"Now, now boys...no need to fight in the breakfast table. It would be disrespectful to Shimura-san after she went all the way to cook us up an entire meal," Kakshi said amusedly.

"Well, maybe he should stop making stupid faces."

"Yeah? Well, maybe you should stop looking at my face, how about that?"

"Ugh, you guys are hopeless..." Shikamaru yawned.

Teresa knew better, however. She knew what that small smile at the mention of Suna's jinchuriki meant. She knew for a fact that it was Naruto's odd way of finding something relatable to his own misfortunate circumstances. The thought that there was someone out there, just like him—a boy, who was the same age as him no less—meant that he was not alone in the world. That he was not the only young child forsaken by humanity and cast off by themselves to carry the burden of being a jinchuriki. It was a point of contention that he would always hold a grudge for, especially towards the fourth hokage. He often mentioned his woes when he was younger, but as he matured, he would speak less about those circumstances. Although, she knew that his thoughts had never changed. Being a biju container was a responsibility that no child should have to undertake. Perhaps it was a mother's intuition to understand what it meant for him.

Teresa nudged her son on the side and he temporarily looked away from his rival to glance his mother's way.

"You know..maybe one day, you'll meet him," Teresa said in a low voice for only Naruto to hear.

Her son beamed at her, a silent conversation having panned out between mother and son, as he went back to shoveling food into his mouth. He gave the Uchiha boy an appraising look.

"You know what, Sasuke? Forget it. I'm feeling pretty forgiving today, so you get a pass."

"Whatever..."

All five of the shinobi continued to eat their meal and soon, the table was filled with friendly conversation once more.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** It's been awhile. Wave Arc is coming real soon.


	11. Chapter 10: Remind me of my Gravity

**Chapter Ten: Can you Remind me of my Gravity?**

 _"Need you for the old me. Need you for my sanity. Need you to remind me where I come from. Can you remind me of my gravity? Ground me when I'm tumbling, spiraling, plummeting down to earth. You keep me down to earth."_

* * *

The village was quiet on this particular night.

The evening summer breeze still lingered in the air, stars glimmered dimly above, with the familiar noise of cicadas buzzing in the stillness of it all. The streets still had a few stragglers, mostly commuters walking home from work with the addition of the adolescent youth loitering around, too rebellious to go home at these hours. The strong scent of cedar wood and camphor leaves permeated the darkness recalling the familiar sense of summer nights with hushed voices, kicking cans, and lying in the grass beds near the river that ran through the village.

Warm summer nights. Makeshift bonfires. Stray eyelashes lingering on the cheeks. Weaving wildflowers through the hair. Sweet dango picked up for half-off before the stall closed for the night. The sound of rushing water. Stars that scintillated like cosmic dust. The earthy aroma of cedar wood from the evergreen tree.

He recalled those dizzy memories while lurking in the shadows. It evoked a strange feeling within. Somewhat indistinct. All those blurred episodes that seemed as if they were mere imaginative thoughts that never truly occurred. However, it seemed that when he let those thoughts ruminate longer, the details became even more blurred. There was always a shadow constantly lingering with him on those nights. When he concentrated longer, he could make out the silhouette of a person. Her features were not very distinctive...that is, until he really put effort into reaching out to grasp at those repressed memories.

She was always by his side on those nights.

To that, he wondered why. Why did she remain by his side? Was there an ulterior motive in all those nights of sharing their deepest thoughts, lying on the grass beds, and eating sweet rice dumplings? Or perhaps she was really altruistic in her approach of interacting, perhaps she really did enjoy the company despite it all.

And when he thought about her, a deep wave of unbridled guilt and longing would overcome him, crashing at full-force, bringing his sanity to tumble into the violent undulations. It was a pain that settled on his throat, that engulfed his chest, and made his ribs ache. Once pleasant memories, turned to a monolith of bitterness that towered above the current circumstances. Memories should not be so arduous. But the thought of her piercing silvery eyes glowing in the evening darkness elicited a strange melancholy that could not be expressed through words.

He would come back to the village on nights when he thought about her. Which was most days when he was not occupied with the regular issues that would constantly bombard him as he continued playing god. Or so he liked to think.

Always lurking in the shadows, slipping past the gates, jumping across rooftops. He would visit the Memorial Stone first to leave flowers on Rin's grave. He never failed to maintain a fresh bouquet of her favorite peonies on the marbled stone, which meant he would have to visit the site every two weeks. Occasionally, someone else would leave new flowers—much to his disdain.

Sunflowers. He did not like sunflowers all too much, they were bright, stalky, always screaming out for everyone to stop and appreciate. The brightest, most gaudy of the bunch. And he knew exactly who would leave them every other month on days when pressing issues with the Akatsuki took up the better part of his time. The image of a masked shinobi with a gloomy face appeared like a transient thought, but he quickly shook it away lest he anger himself at the memory of his unreliable teammate.

Thankfully, they were not there this time, leaving him plenty of room to discard the wilted peonies he had left two weeks ago in exchange for the new bouquet he had purchased from a small farming village outside of Konoha. With that task done and a few minutes of staring dismally at the stone, he would proceed to have a silent conversation with it.

"How have you been Rin?" Silence was the response he would get, but that never stopped him from talking.

"I've been...okay. Lately, things have been...difficult to say the least. Posing as the Mizukage hasn't yielded the best results, but I'm still trying. The shinobi tried to hold a second coup d'etat, one of the Seven Swordsmen has defected. They don't trust Yagura...well, they don't trust me." The silence remained and he cleared his throat.

"The Akatsuki is steadily growing, we've added a new addition to the organization, I guess you could say. His name is Itachi, he's from my clan. Madara-sama was the one who told me how important it was to cleanse the village of the Uchiha. It seemed as if the hokage wanted the same. He made that little boy kill the entire clan." He gulped at the thought of his clan's demise.

"I'm not sure if they deserved it entirely, but small outliers like that don't really matter in the grand scheme of things. Sometimes, it's necessary..." He sighed and lifted his mask slightly off his chin to inhale a deep breath of fresh air as he rubbed tiredly at his face. The scarred half of his face felt papery under his palm, like thin ripples of flesh that felt numb to any sensation. "I just want to make a better world. I want there to be a world where no pain or suffering exists...a world where you can be in. Madara-sama told me that sacrifices must be made for the ultimate result. But..."

His mouth formed into a thin frown and the words died off on his lips. The fact that he still felt the need to justify his actions to a tombstone only seemed to further solidify that niggling thought of regret in the back of his mind. With that, he decided to leave the Memorial grounds and he fled back into the darkened streets with the bitter taste of regret still on his tongue.

Madara-sama reiterated time and time again until it was drilled deep into his mind that the actions he must make will be questionable by nature, teeming on the edge of immoral, but the results they will bare will far outweigh any of the initial consequences. He could snuff out another life line without so much as batting an eye knowing that ultimately, they would resurrect them again in the new world order. The blood on his hands did not matter. The people he hurt did not matter either. He was a liberator, a champion of the people. That was what Madara-sama kept telling him. He told him that he believed in him. There were only two people in his life who ever did that...and one was buried six-feet under the dirt.

But the other...

She was somewhere in this village right now, nestled in her warm home, probably with a faint smile plastered on her beautiful face. As he thought about her, he felt his feet instinctively lead him towards a familiar path where she might just be.

Four years ago, on the night of the massacre, Obito had followed the kunoichi Teresa had desperately tried to protect once he vanished from the compound. As per his promise, he did not harm the girl and let her live, but that did not stop him from following her. That led him to Teresa's home. It was a nice townhouse, situated near the Village's Main Street with a blooming garden of wispy willows, roses, hydrangea, lavender, and carnations at the entrance and a small vegetable garden in the back. It was a place he would have expected her to make a home out of. It was just as beautiful, just as comforting, yet lively just like her. And as he slipped past the Main Street, he realized that it had not changed since the last time he visited.

He kept tabs on her since her stay on Kirigakure. She had done so much in the past couple of years and he must admit, he was proud at seeing the kunoichi she had become. She had a child now, his sensei's orphan. The boy who he had once tried to kill. It would seem that the fates decided to let the baby live and in an even more twisted turn of events, Teresa would become that child's mother. The world worked in mysterious ways. Now, she was back in Konoha raising a son, living her life. She was doing so well, thriving even; which was something he wished he could deny but could not. And Kami, she was even more beautiful than the time he had last seen her. Her face glowed and her eyes seemed to shine like polished silver. Far stronger and wizened from years of battle and the suffering she felt from...

He knew he had hurt her. That much was certain. And that was something that continued to leave an aching sting at the pit of his chest whenever he thought about her—which was most days. Madara-sama told him how he must forego any of the thoughts he had of her in order to fully free himself from the ghosts of his past. And damn it, she was one of the most prevalent of all those ghosts that remained. He found it difficult to forget about her memory, but in time, he found a way to hide the image of her visage in the very deep caverns of his mind. Her ghost was carefully hidden, buried under the myriad repressed thoughts that also existed in his brain.

And every so often...her ghost would reappear.

To alleviate the stress that came about with her memory, he did the only thing he could think of. He visited her. He would sit on top of her bedroom window sill and stare at her in forlorn. With a thin barrier of glass being the only thing to separate him from her. Separating imagination from the cold, hard reality that was their existence. Because he had hurt her. Every single time he interacted with her, she would cry, and that was beyond his comprehension, seeing as how one of the most powerful warrior's in all of the Elemental Nations could crumble at the very sight of his face.

Her bedroom window was often let open during these summer nights, probably to let the breeze drift in.

Summer nights were the best nights to visit because that meant there was no barrier separating them from one another, only the sheer voile curtains that danced with the breeze. He would sit on that sill and watch her for hours. Sometimes she was bustling around her room, most times she was sound asleep with her back turned away from him.

Even in slumber, he could make out the pleasant contours of her countenance. The sight of her would recall all those dizzying memories he had of lying on the grass beds by the river and laughing all night until his ribs hurt. He needed to see her...on the days when he felt like collapsing under the weight of his responsibilities. Creating a new world was hard, staying by his old friend's side to recount his happiest memories was easy. He needed to feel the proximity of her even if she lay far away from the opened window. He needed that comfort. Teresa embodied just that.

He needed her for the old him. Needed her for his sanity. The memories of some sense of normalcy were what helped stave away his thoughts of going mad with delusions. The memories of being next to her were what kept him alive in this hell of an existence. He needed someone to remind him where he came from.

And as he gazed longingly at her slumbering silhouette, he sighed an inaudible noise, and leaned his head on the window sill. She tossed slightly in her sleep and settled on her side, facing directly towards him where he could chance a glance of her in her entirety. Teresa looked so fragile in her sleep. His eyes focused on the gentle slopes of her face, trying to remember how it looked like when she was awake and laughing at one of his odd jokes. He wished, deep down inside, that things could go back to being that way.

He wished she could remind him of his gravity again. To pull him back and ground him when he was tumbling, spiraling, plummeting back to earth. Back to a reality where people suffered and died and hurt each other. She was the one who kept him down to earth even when Rin could not.

How she would call him out on his shortcomings in order to show him how to improve himself. How she would lie to him about how he did not sound like an idiot when he attempted to flirt with Rin. How she would love him even when things turned sour and the skies would fill with gloom and rain. How she still loved him even though it pained her.

Obito knew he was difficult. But then again, all the things in life were difficult. And even though she discovered the weight of his sins, she continued to care. The last time he saw her, she told him that she missed him—if that was any indication of her true feelings. He needed her for his sanity.

He watched as her lips twitched slightly and she moved again in her sleep.

His eyes drifted away from her slumbering form to survey the room. Off in the corner was a pile of scrolls and weapons and rations and food pills. He surmised she would be embarking on a mission come morning. He wondered where she would be going...

And then he looked at her once more, still sound asleep and facing him with a tranquil look upon her. Oh, how he wished he could speak to her.

He would say. "I'm sorry."

She would probably say something along the lines of how he could not be forgiven, but he knew better. She would forgive him time and time again no matter what he did.

And yet...

He could not say a word. Madara-sama had told him to let go of the past, to bury it somewhere deep inside the recesses of his mind to be forgotten with the reality of their incoming world. He felt as if he were being pulled along, like a Bunraku puppet, with Madara as the Ningyōtsukai pulling the strings for every word spoken and every action taken. He would let him do it too, if it were somehow contributing to their cause. If there was any possibility, any chance that he could bring back the ones he had loved the most, he would do it. He wanted to help Teresa too, because he loved her, because he wanted her to feel the joy of having someone she loved back in her arms. He thought about bringing back Clare. Madara-sama said anything was possible once the Eye of the Moon plan came into fruition.

Obito felt that perhaps Madara was right. He was their liberator. For now, he would continue to play this dance of derision, continue to play his part. If he had to take another life away in the process, then so be it.

Thus, despite that aching feeling of longing that had risen in his chest as he gazed at Teresa, he shook his head in resolution. He would continue to be by her side, just as she had done so once upon a time, but this time, he would not speak another word.

And he was reminded of his gravity once more.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I think this was long awaited. We needed to see Obito's perspective for once.


	12. Chapter 11: Blind to the Subject

**Chapter Eleven: Blind to the Subject**

 **"** _When you know what you've got, sacrifice ain't that hard. Sometimes we're not meant to be free."_

* * *

When she opened her eyes, she found herself staring at the blank white ceiling of her bedroom.

The dawning sun was emerging, peaking slightly from the view of the hokage monument, allowing a wan light to emanate throughout her otherwise darkened room. She was tangled in her linen bed sheets, an odd feeling of something heavy lingered on her chest and she shuffled to her side to stare blankly out the window.

The thin fabric of the curtains were dancing with the Konoha breeze, sheer and translucent, as it allowed her to get a peak of the village on the cusp of waking up. The usual hustle and bustle of the streets had not yet unfurled leaving it somewhat quiet.

 _The calm before the storm_ , she thought to herself.

As Teresa gazed out of the window, she narrowed her eyes, lingering on the empty window sill for a few moments, before picking herself up off her bed to begin her morning ritual.

Today, she would be heading out for her mission in the Land of Waves for her manhunt on the nin who were terrorizing the Konoha outposts. She still had to seal all of her equipment, but that could be done in a matter of minutes.

After having successfully packed up all of her necessary equipment, Teresa slowly crept into her son's room to say goodbye. When she entered, Naruto was sound asleep with his limbs sprawled out on top of his bed. She sat herself on the side of his bed, before reaching out to slightly jostle him awake. When he blearily opened his eyes she leaned over to plant a small kiss on his forehead.

"Goodbye," she said softly.

"Mm...bye mom..." The boy yawned, smacking his lips tiredly. "...Have a safe trip..."

"Safe? I doubt it, my little fox-" he swatted at her in feigned embarrassment at the mention of the old pet name she would often dub upon him since he was smaller "-but, I do promise to come back unscathed."

"...Okay...mom...mm...see ya..."

She chuckled slightly before lifting herself up off of his bed. With one last peak through his door, she closed it slowly and walked past the corridor leading towards the living room.

With her equipment packed, Teresa slung her leather scabbard around her shoulders and left the house.

* * *

The mission briefing was quick and to the point.

The hokage had told her that Konoha Intel had not yet received any further information about the perpetrators she was set to find, other than base information.

For one, it was allegedly a man and a young woman.

The man was a swordsman—that was all the information they had scrounged up from the reports filed. The young woman however, allegedly possessed a special kekkei genkai that could produce some sort of mirror-like reality according to the outpost researchers who encountered them.

The information given was not much to work with, however, the cogs within Teresa's brain had already been churning hundreds of deductions.

If the woman could produce these "mirrors," that meant that this genetically acquired faculty was the result of a specialized ability to warp physical ki. She had researched before on the notion of altering physically manifested chakra, it was similar to a practice used by an Awakened Being she had encountered in her past life.

She remembered the demon she encountered in the City of Rabona, as she was on a mission with Ilena. It was a male senshi who had awakened, having managed to produce ki through a physical entity of mirror-like images as an offensive mechanism. After slaying the Awakened Being, she had studied it extensively, and discovered the origin of this ability, and ultimately, found a way to combat it. And after that, Teresa had stored that knowledge within the files of her mind, to use that information when the time came.

She supposed today would be the day she could finally put that seemingly arbitrary information to use.

With one last mental intimation, Teresa walked through the village entrance gates. She closed her eyes, allowing a surge of ki to flow through her limbs. Feeling the familiar sense of energy coursing through her veins, through her muscles, and through her flesh, Teresa inhaled deeply.

With that, she set off to the trees, so fast that it was as if she simply vanished into thin air.

* * *

The morning sun was now high up in the sky, signaling that afternoon had come. The environment around her had began to change altogether as she progressed forward and she knew that by this time, she had officially entered the Land of the Waves.

The ecosystem was much more different than that of the Land of Fire. She studied it and kept several notes of this during her earlier travels when she left Konoha a few years ago. In here, the air was much more dense with humidity, while the heat itself was not as severe. Flora here was much different too. The collection of foliage in the Land of Waves called for a different specie of tree that would never be found in the Land of Fire.

She summoned one of her smaller birds to her side since Sora was currently performing a rite-of-passage ritual for the hatchlings back in the Eagle's den.

"You called, Teresa-sama?" the avian asked.

Popo was one of the smaller male eagles, a harpy, that she used for scouting areas for espionage purposes.

"Yes, scout the area for any disturbances or suspicious activity. Check-in with me every hour, alright?"

The eagle nodded before setting off into the sky, a loud screeching squawk indicative of some sort of battle cry could be heard as he flew off.

She had been traveling for hours, non-stop, without taking any breaks. Popo had periodically checked-in with her, usually turning up with nothing. Occasionally, she would stop by some of the outlying villages to gather more intelligence that might lead to her perpetrators.

Popo came soaring down before settling on her shoulder once more.

"Anything?"

"No, so far, I've only seen travelers and some fisherman wandering about. The animals tell me that they have not seen anything out of the ordinary either, but...I'll probably take another look around."

"Thank you," she nodded before he took off into the air once more.

Thus far, all she really gained from the information she had was that the villages as a whole were slowly becoming conglomerated through trade.

Apparently, a shipping magnate had taken over the majority of the trading posts in the more commercialized villages near the ports. Since then, odd criminalized syndicates have been popping up from all corners of the land with no prompting reason. However, Teresa deduced that it had something to do with this "Gato" character who somehow found a way to privatize all trading outposts.

Teresa had been drawing a list of suspects and this man was at the very top of her list. She knew of course that he was not the one bloodying his hands and terrorizing the Konoha outposts, but she knew for a fact that it was his money being pumped into the pockets of the nin responsible. Therefore, this man would be at the top of the chain, the one doing all the bidding. It would seem that fiscal matters were always the reason behind domestic crime disputes.

After she found the two nin who were the top priority of her mission objective, she would make sure to find Gato. There was a high probability that if she allowed this man to continue corrupting the economy in the Land of Waves, more problems would further escalate that could ultimately reach the Land of Fire. And knowing that Konoha held the most power in terms of economic and political matters, this could possibly reach the Village if she continued to let his presence fester.

And she knew despite her better judgement that she could not let that happen either.

The silver-eyed kunoichi never really held the same patriotism the rest of her fellow comrades had for Konoha, but she did have people she loved who lived there and she would not let anything detrimental happen to the place they called their home.

With that thought in mind, Teresa shook her head and continued to travel through the trees. From beyond the clearing she could make out the ocean, and that meant that she would be happening upon one of the larger commercialized sea port villages. Perhaps she could discover more viable information there.

* * *

"Haven't seen anything amiss around here, lady," the villager she had been talking to confessed. "...But, strange things have been happening around the forest."

She frowned at his words. "What sort of...strange things have been happening?"

The man scratched the back of his head and untied his apron from his waist as he pat down his pants. A few moments ago, Teresa had come across the village's market and she ambled towards the first stall she could find, a dorayaki shop. The owner was a middle-aged working man, with a worn face, but an intrinsic exuberance that seemed to indicate that he could offer any candid information without hesitation.

"Well, the healers who go out there to collect the herbs for their medicine have been telling me how they've been encountering strange sightings of...What was it again? Ah, of mirror things...I think?"

Teresa's silver eyes flashed and her ears perked up at the mention of this. "What...kind of 'mirror things?' Did they divulge any details in specific?"

"Well, I don't know... They're like these floaty kinda' mirror things, I guess? Ichihara-san told me two days ago about how she went to the bottom of the hills where the Sen-Kyu and Ginseng root grow. She uses them to make the pain reliever medicine for open wounds like cuts and..."

"Those are the main constituents of hydrolyzed tannins—a common medicine that can be ingested or applied topically. Among the isolated constituents of those plants, testing it on human subjects has lead to the discovery of antimicrobial effects and the speed up of healing time among contact. This medicine is often used for flesh wounds...More particularly, that is a type of medicine created specifically for injuries inflicted by swords and other sharp bladed objects," Teresa said knowingly.

That meant if that medicine was being created, there should be a specific reason...perhaps an influx in sword wounds among the villagers? There was no other purpose for its concoction.

 _Sword wounds..._

If the woman she was after could possibly be here, then that also meant the swordsman accompanying her was too.

"...Well, I don't know what you just said, but yeah probably," he shrugged. "You'll most likely get better information about all that stuff from Ichihara-san. We don't have a hospital, but we do have a hospice with all the village healer's three blocks down. They can tell you more about it."

Teresa nodded her head and thanked the man, not before buying a bag of fresh dorayaki. She thought a quid pro quo should be in order, the least she could do was purchase something from his stall for the information he had offered her.

She followed the man's directions and that led her towards the hospice building.

"Well, it happened when I came across the hills where the Sen-Kyu root grew. I was supposed to collect some for the new batch of medicine we needed and then I saw this masked shinobi," Ichihara recalled. "I tried to speak to them, to tell them I meant no harm and that I was just here to pick some herbs, but they charged at me. All I can remember is seeing myself in this...this floating mirror before I blacked out. One of the fishermen found me on the outskirts of the forest. That's all I really remember."

"Was there any affiliation they could have had? Did you get a good look of the headband they had on?"

"I...I think it was from Kiri? The headband they had on had the sign on it..."

"Hmm...I've also noticed your hospice has been producing a lot of hydrolyzed tannin medicine, is there any reason?" Teresa arched her brow.

"A lot of travelers who come through the forest have been getting attacked. They never remember who or by what, but every single person who was always seems to have flesh wounds."

"Flesh wounds...Flesh wounds from swords?"

"Yeah," the woman nodded her head. "Exactly!"

Teresa frowned again. Why were there victims appearing with mysterious sword wounds? Moreover, why would any nin from Kiri be here? This was far from their territory and not only that, Kiri had no business here in the Land of Waves. Something seemed off.

"Did any of your other colleagues encounter the same thing with the floating mirrors?" the kunoichi queried.

"Yes, Haruka-san and Lin-san did too. They told me the same thing happened to them, but what happened to Haruka-san was a little different. She was actually traveling through the forest to perform a surgery on a patient who was bedridden in his home. On her way there though, she was attacked by that same shinobi and all her medical supplies and surgical equipment were stolen."

"Can I speak to one of these women?"

"Yes, yes of course! Haruka-san is in the room next door."

Teresa thanked the healer before trudging towards the next room over to speak to the other victim.

"What? That shinobi who attacked me is a wanted nin?" the woman gasped as Teresa explained the situation.

"Yes, wanted by Konoha authority," the blonde confirmed. "I'm looking for any information you can give me. Even the smallest details can be of use."

The woman gave her an appraising once-over, as if she were studying Teresa. "...So, you're a Konoha shinobi?"

To that, Teresa nodded.

"You...You're the Silver-Eyed Witch, aren't you?"

"I suppose that is what some people know me as..." Teresa shrugged. "But, my name is Teresa."

"Oh my, what an honor! I've heard stories about you since I was a teenager. Even though we don't really have a hidden village, news from the shinobi world travels rather fast here."

"Or so I've heard," Teresa replied. "So, what happened to you on the day when you were attacked?"

"I was walking through the forest to take a detour of the main road from the village, it's quicker if you go through the forest. I had my equipment and everything in a basket, but I forgot to bring an antiseptic medicine for the pre-op stages of the surgery...So, I stopped by the hill where the Sen-Kyu root grew to pick some up. But, on my way there, I was stopped by a masked shinobi."

"What kind of mask were they wearing?"

"It was a...white mask with thin, curved eye holes and a red wavy design in place of a mouth, I think?"

Teresa's eyes flashed knowingly. "That's a hunter-nin mask..."

What was a hunter-nin doing in the Land of Waves, a hunter-nin that belonged to Kirigakure no less?

"Oh, so that's what it was? Well, yeah all I remember was seeing them and then a mirror appeared in front of me before I was knocked out."

"So, where is the general area of all these sightings in the forest?"

"Well, from the stories Ichihara-san and Lin-san have told me, we were all sort of in the South-Eastern part of the forest where the hills that grow herbs were. I think if you exit the side of the village where the port is, that part of the forest will lie directly there."

"Alright," Teresa said while stretching her arms to loosen up a bit. "Thank you for your time."

"Oh, the pleasure was all mine, Teresa-san," the woman waved. "And when you find that shinobi, can you give them a good punch in the face for me? You know, for knocking me out and stealing all of my medical supplies..."

Teresa chuckled. "Sure."

The two women laughed together languidly before the silver-eyed kunoichi finally departed the hospice building.

* * *

It was sunset by the time she made her way to the South-Eastern side of the forest not long after trekking through the seaside port. The merchants by that area were suspiciously quiet when she interrogated them for any information about the odd sightings in the forest. She knew for a fact that those men worked for Gato, that meant they were hiding something.

And Teresa did not like that at all.

When she entered the lush shrubbery of the forest she knelt to the ground and closed her eyes. Popo was somewhere above the trees searching the landscape with an aerial view. She allowed herself to concentrate on all the natural chakra that flowed throughout the forest in its entirety—from the trees, to the plants, to the small animals that lived within every crevice. She felt it all as if it were within her, as if the same energy that flowed through every living thing coursed like blood through her veins.

Over the years, Teresa had honed in on her acute chakra sensing abilities to the point where she was able to feel the flow of ki as if it were a living breathing entity. She could even sense each minute flow so vividly, enough to predict where it would go or what it would do. And every single signature was all at the grasp of her hand.

For miles stretched out upon miles, Teresa could feel the chakra signatures of the wandering passerby in the forest. There were at least ten warm bodies, all ranging in depth and prowess. Mostly civilian, but...

One stood out among the rest.

Teresa concentrated on the flow of that string of chakra, reading its every nuance like an open book. _Ah, yes_... This chakra form was much more powerful than the average. It spiked in several levels that no mere civilian could possess. Not to mention the fact that whoever possessed this chakra was currently trying to suppress every last bit of it. Judging from the flows, she could tell it was different, there were special marks indicative of a binding of one or more natural ki flows—this was the kekkei genkai.

It was about sixty kilometers away, near the mountainous range, on a small flat valley ridge below.

Within seconds, she took off zooming past the trees and in a matter of minutes she had made it towards that pull of chakra.

She had found her target.

Teresa masked her chakra, her ability to sense and manipulate ki allowed her to fully hide every bit of it. It was as if she extinguished it in its entirety whenever she did this, not even the most skilled shinobi could find her. She hid behind the brush, peering over for the person in question.

It was a young man...not a woman.

From the looks of it, he was around the adolescent range. He may have possessed effeminate features, but that did not change the fact that he was a boy—with long brunet hair, brown eyes, and a soft slope of the cheekbones. He was in regular shinobi attire, with the mask his victims mentioned pulled up at the top of his headband. She could see from her distance that he was bent over picking herbs on the hillside.

Teresa narrowed her eyes and noticed that he had concealed weapons in the sleeve of his shirt, his pants, and some secured even in his hair.

He was alone, the swordsman nowhere in sight. Perhaps if she captured him, that would draw his companion out. However, chances were, the swordsman would abandon his comrade altogether—that was the shinobi way as it was. Whatever they were doing, it seemed as if their mission objective was to steal supplies and intimidate any adversaries in their wake; which also included Konoha's outpost shinobi too. Which was why she was here in the first place. Konoha did not like it when their shinobi were targeted for attacks.

She thought of various plans of action in her mind. Perhaps she could injure him and then follow his trail. Attack him and let him go. She had to do it subtly, she had to make him think that he simply managed to get away without the knowledge that she deliberately let him off. Chances are if she did that, the boy would run back to whatever checkpoint he and his companion established, and that would lead to the swordsman.

Yes, that seemed like a more sound idea.

She would attack him and then let him put up a fight with her, then that would prompt him to release his kekkei genkai (giving her enough time to study it because she was actually inquisitive as to how it worked), and then she would make him believe that he beat her and let him get away.

With that in mind, Teresa stepped forth from the shrubbery, making a show of extra noise to alert him of her presence. Teresa placed a curious finger on her lip, wondering if she should have the added bonus of releasing some ki. She shrugged, _why not?_ And just as she stepped out of the brush, she released a sudden wave of chakra—the boy immediately turned and stood on defensive mode.

"Who are you?" He shouted, kunai already on hand and as they met each other's eyes, the boy's cheeks took on a slightly pink tinge.

"It doesn't matter," she said grimly as she unsheathed her blade. "To put it short, you have a bounty on your head, and I'm here to collect it."

Teresa made sure this alibi was foolproof, she did not need him to know that she was a Konoha nin.

"B-Bounty? How? By who?"

"Doesn't matter," she repeated swinging at him all at full force.

He came crashing into the ground flat on his back from the sheer force of her swing. Rocks and debris exploded from beneath the floor upon impact. The sound of metal clanging against metal clashed and reverberated throughout the quiescent forest as he had blocked her with his kunai.

As the dust cleared away, Teresa and the boy glared fiercely at one another before she kicked the kunai out of his grasp and grabbed him by the neck to pull him up. He choked and wheezed as she tightened her grip around his thin neck, and she knew if she added just a little more pressure, she could crush it without warrant.

But, she needed to let him off...though, not without prompting him to use his kekkei genkai.

To that, her grip loosened, allowing him to catch a breath and kick her square in the chest. As was expected. She anticipated his every move, read every tick within the minute flow of chakra coursing through his veins.

Once he was free, the boy flipped several feet back only to produce hundreds of senbon her way. Teresa swung her sword, mimicking Ilena's magnum opus offensive and deflected the senbon away and back towards him. He vanished, only to reappear behind her, and she flipped him over herself, smashing his face into the ground.

He groaned. "What do you want from me?"

"Your blood," she taunted.

She pulled him up roughly and shoved him to his feet. "Get up and fight, I'm tired of your half-assed performance, boy."

He spat blood and charged at her with his fists cocked and she proceeded to dodge a barrage of punches and kicks. She allowed him to get a few punches in before kicking up to bring her leg down on his shoulder. He crumbled to his knees.

"Try harder..." Teresa grunted as she gripped his shoulder and kneed him on his stomach.

The boy flew back, but used the momentum to spin and land safely on his feet. His breathing was becoming labored from her attacks, perhaps she should go easier on him...But, then again she was only trying to coax him into using his kekkei genkai—she wanted to see it firsthand.

 _When was he going to use it?_

It was as if a light bulb flickered in her head as she thought about using one of the newest jutsu she had perfected. It was an amalgamation of elemental wind in tandem with raw physically manifested ki—it could possibly prompt him into releasing his kekkei genkai.

Quickly now, Teresa sheathed her sword and began to form hand seals, _boar...ox...snake...ram..._ and then...

A surge of energy came manifesting from her hands as she summoned her natural affinity as a medium of deposition for the raw energy at her finger tips. The wind came sweeping like a maelstrom and the energy within glowed a bright green as it came crashing down on her targeted opponent. The blast sent him flying through the trees as an explosion soon followed.

When the smoke cleared, the boy shakily stood up. He was bloodied from the blow of the explosion, but he pressed on nonetheless. Teresa had to admit that he did have excellent stamina to keep up with her.

"Come on," she taunted once more. "You have to be better than that..."

And just as she expected, an encasement of mirrors began to surround her. To this, she smiled.

 _Finally..._

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Thanks for the reviews. I enjoy reading each and every one of them.


	13. Chapter 12: You're a Burden to Yourself

**Chapter Twelve: You're a Burden to Yourself**

 _"Of the rebellious—_ _We run around the area._ _We are heroes._ _We are men._ _Glory!_ _Praise heaven._ _Thank the spirits."_

* * *

Teresa felt the corners of her lips twitch into a grin as a coverture of mirrors began to encase her being. The mirrors surrounded her, at first reflecting nothing but the image of herself back—the enervated silver eyes, the wind swept platinum hair, crisp white shinobi attire, and the single scintillating blade that was firmly grasped within her hold.

And then the mirrors went blank.

Slowly, they began to morph into the image of the boy, his mask now in place over his visage. The mirrors all reflected this image, the boy with his hunter-nin mask, and his kunai on hand.

"Ah, it seems you do have some skills left to bare," Teresa said almost elatedly.

"...You underestimate me...I'm not as weak as you think," the boy replied. "My bloodline allowed me to inherit a special technique...one that has never failed me in my entire life."

"Bold words, boy. Who's to say that this technique won't fail you now?" She smirked before swinging her sword towards one of the mirrors. The frigid glass shattered into a million tiny pieces upon impact.

Startled, the boy began to form hand seals with one hand, and he shouted through the looking glass.

 _"Thousand flying water needles of death!"_

She heard his voice reverberate through the mirrors and with that, thousands of thin, crystalline senbon came rushing towards her.

Teresa felt her chakra surge as she pumped a diminutive amount of ki to her movements, then she thrust her sword out in a wind-cutter like effect to make dust out of the ice needles. As she did this, the kunoichi used her upper body strength to concentrate on a single point in her shoulder to charge through another one of the mirror barriers. In it's place, another one quickly formed and the boy's image remained.

As she continued to play his game, dodging and shattering mirrors, Teresa was taking mental notes on each nuance of the technique. It was very similar to the defense mechanism of the Awakened Being she had encountered a lifetime ago. The boy was using the elemental chakra of ice in tandem with the specific bloodline trait that allowed him to enter through the mirrors and launch out at exceedingly high speed levels.

It was as if the ice was his medium, a blank canvas to which he was the artist. As he gracefully moved through each mirror, she could see the level of skill it took to perfect such a jutsu. The ice acted as its own reality created by the user to manipulate to his liking. It was a clever trick when combined with his impressive speed.

Like a spectre, the upper half of his body leapt out from one of the mirrors and he charged at Teresa with a myriad of those deadly sharp crystalline senbon. Teresa dodged the incoming projectiles and concentrated her ki to her fist, enough to shatter two more mirrors.

They continued on like this as if in some strange dance of call and response. He would attack with a flurry of ice senbons, she would respond by deflecting them back and shattering more mirrors. He would leap out of the reflection to attack with physical blows, and she would meet him half-way either using her fists or trusting her blade.

She was satisfied with her observations now.

The boy's kekkei genkai had intrigued her and now that she had fully grasped at the source and semantics of his technique, she was ready to end this.

Teresa could feel his chakra reserves slowly depleting by the minute and with the amount of energy he had been expending, he would be too tired to gain the upper hand. The boy was already severely bloodied and bruised from her previous attacks and when she focused on his ki, she noticed he had been nursing a flesh wound that was slowly losing blood by the second too. He was spent and she was growing bored with toying with him.

Teresa's plan began to unfurl in her mind once more—she would have to shatter the mirrors, allow him to attack her once more, then she would let him gain the upper hand, and make him believe he mortally wounded her. That would work.

"You're getting tired, aren't you, boy?" She called out into the numerous mirrors that reflected an image of the boy whose posture was gradually hunching to a slouch while his breathing was growing more and more labored.

"No," he grunted. She could see the lies right through his teeth.

Closing her eyes for an ephemeral moment, Teresa reached out for the prime source of the ki that emanated through the mirrors to follow the direction of which the flow of energy was more saturated. The progression of the flow was concentrated in a specific mirror and she knew he was there.

With alarming speeds, the kunoichi's arm shot up as she manipulated her ki to reach into the mirror and pull at the nodes to shatter it altogether while roughly pulling the boy out. As she did this, the encasement of reflections began to melt around her.

She destroyed them all.

"Looks like it failed you," she hissed before crushing his mask and grabbing him by his face to slam his body to the ground. She allowed her movements to slow down in an act to feign overexertion as well.

Now was her time to give him the upper hand.

Teresa pinned the boy to the ground by gripping tightly on his wrists and using her knees to bind his thighs. He groaned from the pain elicited from the amount of pressure she was forcing on his joints. The blonde glowered at him, allowing her silver eyes to take on a more fiercely pronounced glow.

"Give up, you're bleeding out and your chakra reserves are fully exhausted," she intoned, subtly glancing at the kunai that had been carelessly tossed on the ground beside him.

Teresa deliberately pinned him to the ground in that area when she spotted the weapon. She knew if she gave him a small margin of time and loosened her grip, he would find the opportunity to reach for the kunai.

"...I'd rather...die..." he wheezed out, blood covering his teeth as it spilled from the corners of his lips.

Teresa threw her head back and laughed, discreetly loosening her grip while angling her body in such a way that it would give him an opening to plunge the kunai through her flesh. The boy spotted the kunai and proceeded to do the only thing any critically injured shinobi could do; and that was to find a vulnerable point in their adversary.

Just as expected.

She allowed him to stab her in the area right below her rib cage, close enough to seem as if he had punctured her heart. The kunoichi had calculated what his trajectory would be moments before, and just as she thought, the boy had stabbed her between the space of her diaphragm and her chest—a non-lethal area that seemed to look otherwise.

Teresa grunted, pretending she was in immense pain as she clutched at his shoulders, her hand trembled towards the slope of it where she furtively pressed a tracking seal in the warm flesh of his neck. In an act to dramatize her "defeat," the kunoichi keeled over and clutched at the wound. She closed her eyes and extinguished her chakra signature.

And just as she had planned, the boy used that time to flee from her. He shakily stood himself up, wavering slightly from the massive wounds she had inflicted upon his body. Slowly now, the boy limped away from her still body and disappeared into the trees.

When she felt his chakra flow leave a great distance, Teresa sat up and gazed down at the kunai stuck inside her flesh. She gripped its handle and pulled the offending object out of her skin. Blood spilled out of the gash, like a river of rose-colored nectar, that flowed freely from her wound. The blonde rolled her eyes at the injury, weary of having to create an elaborate plan that had to result in a physical injury all in the hopes to capture her prey. It was tiresome work—the life of the shinobi.

She shut her eyes and concentrated a bit of ki to manifest physically, just enough to heal the gash altogether without alerting anyone of her presence. A bright wave of energy began to glow across her flesh from the raw ki being pumped from her body. The skin seemed to mend itself together and within seconds, the wound was gone and replaced with a smooth surface once more. It was as if it never happened.

After having recollected herself, Teresa stood up and narrowed her eyes at the path the boy had run off to. Her tracking seal had been successfully planted into his flesh, that much she was certain of.

She created that seal after studying some abandoned scrolls she discovered in the ruins of Uzushiogakure on a personal research trip she had taken to the Land of Whirlpools years ago. With the knowledge she extracted from the ruins, Teresa was able to practice and later formulate hundreds of sealing techniques that catered to specific properties.

The one she had planted on the boy was a special seal that allowed her to track the boy's whereabouts while altering his memory. If he even tried to recall the image of her, his memory would be inhumed away and all she had to do was follow the specific pull of ki to find him.

She shook her head at the thought. The boy was making it too easy for her.

Teresa sheathed her sword back into her scabbard and leisurely stretched her limbs out. She cracked her neck and shoulders to loosen a bit of tension that had built up from her previous battle. Once finished, her eyes drifted up towards the sky as it revealed a wan gibbous moon, glimmering somewhat brightly against the darkened expanse. Night had crept up upon the realm blanketing the earth in its familiar darkness. The boy would need a full night to even try to recover.

Judging from his injuries, it would take the boy that approximated amount of time to recover on a surface level if he put all those medicinal herbs and stolen surgical supplies to good use. For now, she would follow his every movement.

She summoned Popo to her side once more.

"Here," she said as she opened her palm out to reveal a piece of bloodied cloth she had ripped off from the boy's sleeve during battle. "My target is currently wandering these woods. He has sustained critical injuries and is most likely biding his time by healing himself. He's a young shinobi—with a profile that consists of medium brunet hair, brown eyes, and feminine features. He'll be wearing a Kiri headband, standard pinstriped attire, and a green haori. Follow him and return to me every hour. I want to know every single thing the boy does. If he stops to rest in an area, if he takes a bite of some ration bars, if he heals any of his wounds, if he breathes any differently; everything."

"Yes, Teresa-sama," The harpy nodded.

"I've planted a seal on him to track him down when the time is right. I still need to lure out my other target. But, after the damage he has sustained, I know that he will not re-spawn with his companion immediately. He must heal himself first and get some rest if he doesn't want to die.

"Understood."

The eagle took off to the sky in silence, disappearing into the darkness and the glistening blanket of stars.

Now, all she simply had to do was wait.

* * *

It hurt.

His whole body felt as if it were engulfed by the sheer feeling of raw, unadulterated pain. He was bleeding too, a deep wound cut through the flesh of his belly as a result from the sheer force of his adversary's blade—from the mysterious kunoichi whom he had just encountered. The pain was so overwhelming, it hurt to even breathe. She had overpowered him so easily.

Never in his life had he seen a swordsman so powerful, it made Zabuza pale in comparison. That fact alone had shook him to his very core. Because Zabuza was one of, if not the most, powerful swordsman he had ever encountered in his life. Until tonight.

And that fact frightened him dearly.

Haku still did not know how he managed to get away from her. She had bested his kekkei genkai without much effort, and each time he thought she would have been over exhausted from the amount of chakra she was expending, the woman would double over and continue without breaking a sweat. Meanwhile, he had been excruciatingly pressing on, despite the fact that he felt like dying from the amount of energy he was exerting.

It was as if she were an infinite reserve of pure chakra, unrelenting, never tiring out while he was struggling to catch a breath.

She was inhuman, a monster.

But strangely enough, despite it all, she was beautiful...from what he could remember. _With blonde hair...silver eyes...and.._.

Even now, his memory of her was slowly waning. _Blurry. Incomprehensible._

Why in the world could he not remember her?

Haku sighed before tiredly leaning himself against a tree. After having limped his way through the forest, the shinobi decided to rest when he felt it was safe enough to put up a camp. So far, before he fled from her, he made sure that she was not alive. _He remembered...stabbing her...in her heart?_

 _She..._

She rolled over him and fell limp to the ground. Haku made sure that he could no longer sense her life force. She was dead, he hoped she was dead. He prayed to Kami that she was not alive and currently hunting him down.

Escaping from her was a sheer chance of luck. The boy certainly knew that had he not gathered every last bit of adrenaline pumping through his veins to grab at the kunai, that she would have ended him right then and there.

And now...

Haku was critically injured, practically on the brink of death, and stuck in the middle of the forest until he could fully recover. Thankfully, he had medical supplies on hand to aid in speeding up the process. His body was completely worn.

That meant he could not reconvene with Zabuza. It would take possibly days until he could fully pick himself up to help with their latest mission from Gato. If only that kunoichi had not attacked him...

 _"You have a bounty on your head and I'm here to collect it..."_

Her words resonated in his mind like a haunting mantra. How on earth could he possibly have a bounty? If anything, maybe Zabuza could have, but as for himself... No, it just did not make sense. Nothing made sense for the matter. Something was not right.

 _The woman..._

He tried to recall her image, but his memory was growing ever more hazy each time he tried. _She_...she did not have any affiliation. No headband. Was she a mercenary independent of her own village? _That...that could not be possible because...her power, the way she moved.._.Everything she did was indicative of a full-fledged seasoned shinobi. She must be a shinobi. _She_...

Kami, why could he not remember what he was thinking? Every time he tried to recall his previous battle with the mysterious kunoichi, his memory grew more fleeting. _As if it did not happen..._

No, it did happen! Otherwise, he would not have been in the state he was in now.

Haku sighed and closed his eyes. Zabuza and he were supposed to reconvene tomorrow morning and he was not sure if he had the strength to even journey back to their checkpoint.

"Damn it..." he cursed under his breath.

The boy's eyes wandered towards the trees above him. The darkness of the night enshrouded the forest in its entirety blanketing the cypress trees in that perpetual darkness. The towering branches whispered with the night breeze's song in a comforting melody. Idly, Haku gazed at a lone harpy bird resting on the branches. It seemed as if it were staring right back at him. A strange and beautiful creature it was.

He closed his eyes and exhaled a deep breath. The shinobi knew that it was imperative to utilize this time to recover and heal himself. Weakly now, he reached for the stolen medical supplies in his holster. He would have to stitch up the gash on his stomach before he bled to death.

"I need to save my strength," he muttered to himself. "I can't go out like this..."

Zabuza would have to wait.

* * *

Teresa sat upon the dry flat sand beds coasting a stream that connected to the ocean. She lackadaisically watched the streaming water undulate as a distorted image of the moon shone on its reflection. She heard an echoing cry from up above and held her arm out instinctively.

Popo came soaring down from the sky before perching himself on her arm.

"What is he doing now?" She queried while stroking the eagle's glistening feathers.

"He's still in the same spot, 23.5 degrees North in latitude, about 160 kilometers in the Eastern region near the cliffs by the sea," Popo replied.

Teresa's eyes widened. "He traveled rather far for the injuries he sustained."

"Oh, believe me," the bird said smugly. "It took a lot of effort for the kid. He's on the brink of death."

"That can't be good..."

"But, you should not worry yourself, Teresa-sama. He's currently performing a minor surgery on himself. That stab wound you inflicted upon him looked rather ghastly."

"Will he survive?"

"Yes, I believe so."

"Good. I need him to lead me to his cohort. I can't have him dying before I find the other shinobi," she yawned, somewhat relieved.

Teresa looked up at the night sky, wondering if her son was at home tonight packing all the necessary equipment needed for his mission.

Hopefully, his first field mission would go smoothly.

She peered over to Popo who had been casually resting on her arm. "Is Asuka with Naruto right now?" She questioned.

"Mm...she should be. You did ask her to watch over him until he left."

"Could you ask her how he's doing?"

Teresa knew that the eagles were able to communicate telepathically through one another and she was quite eager to know how her son was faring before he set off to his mission.

The harpy closed his eyes for a moment.

"She says he hasn't gone to bed yet, he's too excited for his mission in a few hours," Popo finally said. "He packed half a box of ration bars, his tools, kunai, senbon...and his goggles."

Teresa rolled her eyes and chuckled. "Tell him I said,' go to sleep."

Popo closed his eyes once more.

"He said,' sorry mom.' Asuka tells me he crawled into bed now."

Teresa stretched her limbs out before leaning herself onto a rock behind her, eyes casting up towards the sky once more.

"Tell him I said goodnight, please."

A momentary silence passed between them before the avian cleared his throat. "He says goodnight too, Teresa-sama."

To this, Teresa closed her eyes once more and smiled.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I'll be adding few twists and altering the Wave Arc **.**


	14. Chapter 13: Bloody Waters

**Chapter Thirteen: Bloody Waters**

 _"Blood on my hands, I might need hot water. Yes Lord, Hail Mary's in the sky_ — _false prophets get buried alive._ _Ways of the world, the weak won't survive. Something's in the water! Please move with caution."_

* * *

"Guys, did you see that?"

"Yes, Naruto, we saw it," Ino rolled her eyes as she kicked a stray pebble in her way. "We were there too, remember?"

"But you gotta admit, that was so cool! Did ya see the way I broke those chains, gah, wish mom coulda seen that, it was so badass!" The blond gushed as he waved his arms around in excitement.

"You've got to admit it, Ino. It was pretty cool," Shikamaru smirked by their side.

The three Genin were currently in a forest near the Northeast side of the neighboring commercial village's sea port. They were on their way with the client, a carpenter named Tazuna who specialized in bridges, tasked with the effort to build a new bridge that allowed access to the mainland for new trading opportunities in the Land of Waves.

"Alright, guys, I know you're all rather excited over your first battle, but we have more important matters at hand," their sensei called out from behind with some chakra rope wound in his hands. "Now, help me tie these guys up until we can wait for authorities to take them into custody."

"Yeah, yeah, Kakashi-sensei, don't get your panties in a bunch," Naruto said as he walked over towards the masked shinobi to which he received a hard bonk on the head.

"Ouch! Kakashi-sensei, that hurt..."

"Quit being a little shit, Naruto," the man drawled. "I'm trying to teach you how to properly utilize chakra rope. I don't need your sass."

The boy begrudgingly proceeded to follow his sensei's directions to help bound the two enemy nin they had defeated to a tree. His other two teammates followed in suit.

Moments before, Naruto and his teammates had been ambushed by a couple of shinobi, and from the looks of their affiliation they were from Kirigakure. Kakashi-sensei said that they were called the Demon Brothers according to the Bingo Book. Both shinobi had attacked them while they were en route to the checkpoint of the building site for the bridge.

The three Genin had been startled initially, however, thanks to Naruto taking the initiative to form a defensive triangle around Tazuna—with Shikamaru and Ino as defense and he as offense, the Genin were able to put up a good fight against the brothers. In the heat of the moment, Naruto was able to counter one of the brother's chain attacks by disabling his right arm with the help of Shikamaru's shadow possession jutsu. The blond had also created several shadow clones to distract the other brother while Ino took possession of his mind to coax him into walking into the exact mark that Naruto had pinpointed for them to meet. Once there, Naruto broke the chains by concentrating his chakra and weakened their enemies advantage point.

Finally, Kakashi-sensei decided to end the battle and subdued both the demon brothers with ease. When questioned why it took so long for the man to finally intervene, he simply shrugged it off and said that he wanted to "gauge their abilities and see whether or not they could successfully fight as a coordinated unit."

Sometimes, Naruto hated it when Kakashi-sensei would get all weird and sage-like when it came to these sort of things. They could've died!

"Did you die?" Kakashi had countered when all three of them proceeded to give him grief.

"No, but we could have!" Ino argued. "Those guys were totally out of our league, sensei!"

"But did you die?"

And that was the end of that. Because they knew that the mysterious man would not say a word after that. Because they knew that though their sensei had an odd way of functioning; he knew exactly what he was doing.

Once the local village authorities took the Demon Brothers into custody, Kakashi proceeded to grind their client with endless questions.

"Why haven't you told us the true nature of this mission? It has been almost two days and not once had you mentioned the possibility of Kiri shinobi appearing. This is out of the scope of our contract," Kakashi admonished.

"I-I had...my reasons..." the old man responded almost ashamedly.

"My students could have potentially been in danger. You put their safety at risk by hiding the truth of your intentions. You're lucky I'm not tying you to a tree and leaving you to the dogs, Tazuna-san."

Naruto frowned. "Why, Tazuna-san? Why did you lie to us?"

The wizened carpenter sighed as he perched himself on the ground beseechingly. "I...I didn't have the funds to afford a higher contract. That's...That's why I had to lie and say I was only being pursued by thugs. If I build this bridge, I could ruin Gato's business...and Gato doesn't enjoy the idea of any of his businesses being undermined. He's sent numerous shinobi for my head and I can't have that, I can't leave my daughter and my grandson alone to fend for themselves."

"So you asked Konoha for help on the pretense of it being a simple escort mission? I'll give you props, that was a smart decision seeing as you lack the funds to afford it..." Shikamaru mused. "...Though, you did put us in a situation that's rather...troublesome."

"There's literally nothing to commend about any of this, Shika! Thanks to this guy's irresponsible actions, we could've died," Ino complained.

Naruto sighed. "You should've been honest..."

"I...I'm sorry..."

"Well, I suppose there's nothing left to do..." Kakashi began.

The old man cringed, a dire look hung on his countenance as he awaited the jounin's decision.

To this, Naruto's face also scrunched up, he had a feeling that sensei might just discontinue the mission altogether.

That...that wasn't fair at all! The man needed help and it's not his fault that he can't afford it. If he could, Naruto would do everything in his power to help aid Tazuna in his mission. He admired the old carpenter for his perseverance. That man was brave enough to build that bridge to help the economy from the clutches of some greedy mogul.

This bridge has the potential to ruin Gato's gridlock hold on the Land of Wave's current economic status. It could liberate the people, allow the economy to flourish, and furthermore it was an act of speaking truth to power. His mother taught him how important it was to find your voice when you know that the current systems are corrupted. To speak truth to power. And by building this bridge, Tazuna was doing just that.

"...But to help you," Kakashi finished. "A mission is a mission after all. Though, we'll have to report this to the hokage once we've finished. You might have to pay the rest of the fees through installments...but, we shouldn't worry ourselves over that right now."

Naruto sighed in relief.

And with that Team Seven pressed on. They were determined to build that bridge and if a couple of shinobi thought otherwise, they would have to deal with them accordingly.

Come hell or high water, they would do it.

* * *

Teresa looked up at the sky, the sun was radiating its bright beams high above the clouds indicating that afternoon had rolled by. She sat cross-legged on the earthen floor, allowing the scattered foliage to cushion her perch. Currently, the silver-eyed kunoichi was meditating letting the natural ki that ran through all living things surrounding her to flow into her senses.

The eagles had taught her that the human body in this realm possessed at least seven basic senses that corresponded with the intrinsic chakra flow that surrounded all things—sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste, proprioception, and the vestibular sense. However, there existed one more sense that transcended all seven senses.

And this was called haki. It meant the "eighth energy" derived from the terms "ha" meaning eight and "ki."

Essentially, to achieve haki, one must do this through meditation. Sora had told her that all summons in the spirit world had their own way of achieving this sort of enlightenment of the senses and they also had different names for it. The toads called it sage mode based on the principles they were taught, like many of the other summons, but the eagles called it differently.

Teresa was still in the process of achieving this sense. Thus far, she had only accessed an imperfect form of haki. Inconsequence, Teresa used her spare time to meditate every so often in order to come closer to reaching the eighth sense, to reach the last stage of haki enlightenment better known as kensho.

And that was exactly what she was doing just now. That is...until she was interrupted by Popo's incoming screech.

The avian landed atop her shoulder to deliver his hourly report.

"So, how is the boy faring now?" She queried while opening one silver eye to peak at her raptor companion.

"Well, he has finally recovered himself enough to travel on foot again," Popo disclosed. "He's preparing to leave in an hour."

"Finally..." Teresa sighed.

It had been almost three days since she had fought the boy and his recovery time had taken longer than expected. Since then, Teresa was forced to lay low within the forest and bide her time until he finally journeyed to his checkpoint.

"But, I think we may have a problem, Teresa-sama..." Popo began.

"Problem? What...problem?"

"According to his correspondence with his teammate through his communicator, he will not be meeting at their checkpoint. His teammate believes him to be too injured to embark on their latest mission."

"Their latest mission? What has Gato delegated for them to do now?"

"Well, they're supposed to assassinate a carpenter who's attempting to build a bridge about 65.3 degrees north in latitude, and 200 kilometers away from here. I took the liberty to follow those coordinates and apparently, it's supposed to be across a single point of the coast by the sea that leads to the mainland."

"Ah, that would allow trade to proceed without the need of the conglomerated ports. That would greatly harm Gato's business endeavors," Teresa concluded.

"Yes, I believe that's what the boy was supposed to do before you attacked, Teresa-sama. He was supposed to proceed with the assassination."

"But now what?"

"Well, the good news is, the swordsman is willing to take the assassination on his own hands. Apparently, he sent two other shinobi after the carpenter, but they failed in their mission to execute him. And according to the correspondence, the swordsman will arrive at the given coordinates at exactly 17:00 hours."

She sighed, relieved at the prospect. "I suppose I'll simply collect him there then."

"I also have a feeling that the boy will try to head to those coordinates too. His teammate vehemently told him not to, but the kid is stubborn. He thinks he can still try to help even though he's not exactly at peak form at the moment."

"Wonderful," Teresa clasped her hands together as she picked herself up from the ground. "That means I can kill two birds with one stone and collect the both of them."

Popo gave her a reprimanding look.

"It's a figure of speech."

"Well, to be frank, Teresa-sama...I don't really like it..."

She shrugged. "Fine. I respect that. Remind me to refrain from using that euphemism in the future." A wry smile lingered on her lips as she sent him off.

Now, all she had to do was activate the tracking seal she had planted on the boy a few days earlier. Even though she knew the exact coordinates and time that the swordsman would appear, she still needed to capture them both and it would be easier to simply follow him. Chances are, the boy could appear later than the given time marked by the swordsman seeing as he was still recovering from their battle.

She would just have to follow him and see for herself.

* * *

They were getting closer to their destination, if Tazuna's estimations were correct.

At the very least, they had one more hour or even less until they reached the construction site, since the pace they were traveling at had been efficiently quick. The afternoon skies were quickly transitioning to a dimmer glow, meaning that noon was soon to turn into dusk. Tazuna said he preferred to work during those hours since the weather was cooler and not as severe as far as working conditions went. Kakashi argued that there was a higher probability of being attacked at this time, but the old man was resolute in his decision.

They had taken a row boat to journey to the building site, a thick blanket of fog had permeated the air making it difficult to even see. When they made it upon land again, the fog persisted, but that did not deter Team 7 since they had finally reached their destination. And without faltering, the carpenter immediately went to work despite the less than ideal weather conditions. The sun seemed to have dimmed around the area as the fog clouded the sky in a heavy condensation. There were puddles scattered haphazardly on the ground, however, Naruto noticed that there had been no sign of rain.

It was strange.

There was no immediate danger that he could tangibly feel, but as far as perception went, his mother had taught him how to rely on his other senses when his chakra readings were not working. Something thick hung in the air, heavy, almost malignant. And he certainly knew that it was not just the fog. Idly, Naruto recalled a memory of when his mother told him how his senses were somewhat heightened from the kyuubi that was sealed within him. As its host, some of the more animalistic senses it possessed were imparted within him—one of which was a heightened olfactory sense. Sometimes, when something was wrong, when the natural homeostasis of chakra was thrown off its balance, he could quite literally smell it in the air.

And he smelled something alright...but he was not so sure...

"Why did it get so foggy all of a sudden?" Ino huffed as they watched over Tazuna continue with the bridge's construction process.

Shikamaru sighed from his lying place on a bed of sand next to Naruto. The boy had immediately plopped himself down and stretched his arms behind his head in a comfortable position as soon as he saw a clearing below the bridge for him to rest upon. "Tch, the fog's so dense I can't even see the clouds. There goes my chance for any decent cloud-watching..." the boy grumbled.

"Well, maybe it's because we're near the ocean? The fog gets really concentrated on the coast, I guess..." Naruto offered, but he could not help but feel a small twinge of dubiety settle at the pit of his stomach.

Their sensei had been oddly quiet the entire time. More quiet than usual, which was saying something as the shinobi himself was inherently taciturn as it was. He had an unusual expression forming on his face, despite the fact that his mask covered nearly 80% of it. There was something between the lines of his eyes. A dire look that hung on the countenance. A look of deep concentration.

Naruto felt that Kakashi-sensei too felt something amiss. He stood up and trudged towards the morose shinobi and leaned towards him to whisper.

"Sensei...I think there's something wrong."

The man gave him a quizzical look. "Ah, so you feel it too?"

"...Y-Yeah...I don't know how to explain it...but I can smell something in the air. It's...It's weird..."

Understanding flashed between the older man's eyes. "That's all on the kyuubi's part, it might be a warning. We should not take the implications of this so lightly."

Naruto's eyes widened and he pointed towards the trail of footprints that his sensei had left on the sand, there was another trail next to his, one that Naruto had not made himself. "Sensei...there's...there's four footprints in the sand!"

The jounin cautiously walked over towards a puddle and as if testing the waters, stuck his hand in before narrowing his eyes.

Suddenly, a surge of killing intent began to emanate from their sensei and all three Genin were alerted immediately. "Kids, protect Tazuna-san! There's something in the water," Kakashi bellowed as he pulled his headband up to reveal his sharingan.

It happened all within a flash, like a sequence of moments that played out all too fast for any of the three genin to comprehend. Within the span of a few seconds, a liquid body of water had erupted from the puddle and the loud clang of metal making contact upon metal screeched, with sparks flying in the air, before they realized a man had snuck up behind their sensei in an attempt to cut his head. Kakashi had blocked the attack and the two men began to glare at one another.

"How the hell did that guy appear? I didn't even hear him! Did...Did you guys hear him?" Ino queried.

"N-No..." Naruto replied shakily. There was something about this man, something eery about him. He felt as if an immense power was lurking deep within him. This was not like their previous encounter with the Demon Brothers. This man was a formidable shinobi, far more powerful than he had seen so far.

"It's called Silent Killing. It's a killing technique implemented in an instant in silence; he's an expert in that jutsu," Shikamaru murmured knowingly. "That's Momochi Zabuza, he's on the Bingo Book—one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist. He defected from his village and disappeared two years ago. He's extremely dangerous."

The man was carrying a large broadsword, a sword that looked as large as the one his mother often carried.

"Well, Well..." Kakashi remarked. "If it isn't the rogue ninja of the Hidden Mist, Momochi Zabuza."

"Hatake Kakashi," the man said tauntingly with a voice so deep, it reverberated through the fog. "I'm here to kill the old man, you're in the way."

"Shit, he's hired from Gato," Tazuna muttered from behind Naruto, Ino, and Shikamaru. The three genin turned towards him and furrowed their brows.

"If you want the old man, you'll have to get through me first,"Kakashi replied in a dangerously low voice.

"I didn't know I would be having the pleasure of killing you today." His eyes wandered towards the three genin. "Oh, and you have some students in tow. It would seem that they will be the last witnesses of your death after today...Before I kill them, at least."

Without warrant, Zabuza flipped backwards and up above the ground before a maelstrom of water began to surround him as he vanished into thin air.

"Stand clear and be cautious, he's traveling through the mist! He can kill you in an instant if you're not careful!" their sensei warned.

Kakashi quickly formed a few hand seals before a surge of chakra engulfed his body, sweeping the heavy mist out of the way and clearing a bit of fog in the air. The air shifted, and the man appeared abruptly from the mist right in the middle of the three genin's formation around their client. Naruto looked at Shikamaru and Ino within that moment and a silent conversation had been communicated between the three young shinobi. Quickly now, Ino grabbed the old man by the arm and Naruto conjured a dozen shadow clones to fill the gaps between Zabuza and the others. As the rogue ninja began to slice wildly at Naruto's clones, Ino led Tazuna away before Zabuza could bring his blade down upon the carpenter's neck. Shikamaru took this opportunity to run behind him and plant an explosive tag on Zabuza's back and within seconds, the tag had detonated.

The shinobi's body melted into water.

"A water clone," Naruto shouted at his teammate.

All three of them searched around for the shinobi, only to realize that their sensei was currently battling the real Zabuza. They blocked and parried one another's movements; Zabuza with his broadsword and Kakashi with his lone kunai.

Kakashi flipped back, delivering a powerful kick aimed directly at Zabuza's face, but before his foot could land on its intended target, the other shinobi had grabbed him by the leg and slammed him down onto the floor. He spun his broadsword around before stabbing it straight into Kakashi's chest as he lay on the floor.

"Sensei!" Naruto cried out.

However, Kakashi's body melted upon contact with the blade and the water streamed from the air and settled into the dirt. It would seem that the jounin had also created his own water clone in the nick of time.

Kakashi appeared from behind, his fist aglow with sparks of electricity. "Chidori," he yelled as he plunged his hand towards the rogue shinobi's heart.

But before he could do it, a bolting geyser of powerful waters had burst forth from Zabuza's hands as he quickly formed another jutsu and the impact of the water had sent Kakashi flying into the trees. The Kiri nin pressed on and followed his opponent only to grab him by the collar and slam his body on the floor. As he did this, Kakashi hooked his arm around the back of Zabuza's neck and flipped him over, punching his face in the process. When he recollected his bearings, he spit out a mouthful of blood and flashed the Konoha nin a bloody grin.

He vanished in the air and came spinning towards the ground, using the speed of his movements to bring his blade down upon Kakashi once more. The force of his swing had caused Kakashi to come crashing down into the earthen floor and an explosion had erupted from the ground upon the impact of the sharigan user's body to the floor as he blocked the attack with his kunai.

The ground below Kakashi began to protrude as he conjured his multi-mud wall jutsu to crush his opponent, but the other shinobi did the unthinkable. Using his arms, he halted the two incoming walls and a surge of chakra began to glow in his hands. Upon contact, the walls had crumbled and Kakashi used that time to create a diversion. The Konoha nin had suddenly vanished.

Within a flash, Zabuza had disappeared only to stand on top of the waters that coasted the floors. He reached into the murky depths and pulled Kakashi out. "You fool..." he muttered as he quickly formed his hand seals. "Water prison jutsu!" the man shouted and a body of water proceeded to engulf the silver-haired shinobi.

The water formed into a ball, trapping the sharingan user in and then Zabuza began to form hand seals with one hand. A clone of the shinobi had appeared from the mist and came charging towards the genin. Naruto saw the nin running towards him, preparing himself for the inevitable...

He shut his eyes tight, silent prayers ran through his mind like a never ending mantra of supplication.

"Zabuza-san!" he heard an unfamiliar voice, an adolescent boy's voice, call out in the wind before it was muffled by something else, or...perhaps by someone else.

The sound of screeching metal clashing upon metal resonated in his ears, so loud that he felt the power of the sword's impact. The feeling of water bursting on him from the clone's dispersement settled and he opened his eyes to peak at the scene before him, expecting that his sensei had blocked the attack in time. When he opened his eyes, it was as if the whole world had stopped right then and there.

The mist had miraculously cleared and the glint of a large blade scintillated before him. He looked up in shock, trying to gather his wits as his eyes finally focused on the silhouette in front of him.

"...M-Mom?" Naruto found himself croaking has he looked up from behind.

 _"S-Senpai?"_ the three genin heard Zabuza mutter in disbelief and in act of equal astonishment all eyes gawked towards the Silver-Eyed Witch who had somehow managed to appear on the battlefield. She had one hand clutching tightly on to her sword with the other occupied by grasping onto another shinobi who was bound and gagged.

A deadly silence had devoured the air as Teresa of the Faint Smile glared down upon the rogue Kiri nin.

"Sorry, Zabuza, I can't let you touch my son," she said with a faint smile.

Her silver eyes glowed dangerously with a flame almost immeasurable.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Looks like a reunion of old comrades is in order. What do you think will happen next?


	15. Chapter 14: The Rogue Kiri Nin

**Chapter Fourteen: The Rogue Kiri Nin**

 _"Meet the man in the mask. A prince-turned-pauper trying to do like kings do. He tried to channel balance, but never found the remote. Common politics; everlasting mayhem; killers on the prowl_ — _as told by an organized criminal."_

* * *

Teresa had been wandering through the woods, carefully following her target, as she trekked forth through the brush. He was moving at an agonizingly slow pace, still in the process of healing, but she continued on her path despite herself.

When she was edging near the coordinates provided by her summon, Teresa had no idea what to expect. She followed the shinobi she had battled earlier on foot, lurking within the shadow of the cypress trees and meticulously shrouding her chakra signature from his detections.

She was about 150 kilometers away from the coordinates when she felt Naruto's chakra signature...and then Kakashi's...It was safe to say that the kunoichi was startled initially, with her mind scrambling to puzzle the pieces together as to why they were so near the vicinity of her objective. Teresa knew there was a high probability of seeing them during her mission, however, she did not think that they would be so close to her checkpoint and in such a coincidental time.

And then...

When she was about 100 kilometers away from the coordinates, she felt a familiar pull of chakra she had not expected. That was when it clicked.

When she came across that pull of energy, Teresa had no idea how to react. It was a familiar chakra signature, heavy, somewhat muffled from restraint, but it was there nonetheless. She knew this chakra flow. The kunoichi had been familiar with that particular flow of nodes once upon a time—but it would seem that was forever ago. And had she not been idly hanging old prayers of Hail Mary to the sky to bide her time as she traveled, she would have never really noticed it. _That familiarity..._

She knew it was him for certain. There was some feeling of foreboding ebbing away at the bottom of her belly as she felt his chakra signature. And in a twisted turn of events, she had figured that he was her target. Worse, he was near her son and Kakashi's team which only meant that these events correlated on a more profound level.

Lord, she wondered why he had suddenly reappeared after so long. And in the worst of times too.

 _Momochi Zabuza..._

Her apprentice. Her only other confidant in Kiri.

That name seemed so foreign as it reappeared in her mind. Teresa, for all things worth, believed that once she returned from her worldly journeys across the elemental nations, that the memories from Kiri would be safely buried in the depository treasure chests of her memory. Buried deep, deep, deep in its enclosure where the figures and events that had once played large roles in that part of her memory would never resurface ever again. But, oh, how wrong she was...

Buried deep within, in pearls of pain, she travelled from the other side of the Hidden Village of the Mist with its cold clouds of condensation and even colder denizens and back into the warm hearth of fire and life that was Konoha. Kiri, with its darker skies, and with the memory of her past of fighting the forces that only meant to guide her towards the light.

 _Zabuza..._

Why did it have to be Zabuza? Why could it not be a stranger? Why could it not be a random shinobi that she had never shared any moments of her past life with? Why did it have to be the only other shinobi besides Jinin who had managed to dig deep into the soil that sheathed her heart in her most vulnerable of times?

She met him after Obitio's apparent death, one of the most vulnerable moments during this lifetime that she had ever undergone, and therein, a friendship had grew. One that was genuine and lacked any pretense of ulterior motives.

She remembered that they did not meet on the best of terms as he had stolen her zanbato. Teresa almost beat him to death, but in the very last moment, she had took pity upon him and spared his life. After that, he begged for forgiveness and she picked him up, dusted him off, polished his technique, and moulded him into something far more special than she could have ever imagined. They were together every single day for the rest of her time in the Village of the Mist; ate meals together; travelled together; shared secrets together.

He was one of the few people she had allowed to view the partial depths of her soul. Because Shimura Teresa was an inherently closed book—in the most proverbial sense possible. There was no window into her heart no matter how hard you should squint. There were no secrets you could see.

But she had let him in.

And a symbiotic friendship based on a mutual understanding of sorrow and apathy had blossomed from the soil and took root upon the earth.

 _And now..._

She would have to be the one to collect him. Teresa would have to be the one to take him back to Konoha as a prisoner.

He always spoke so earnestly about how much he valued the concept of freedom. The freedom of being able to live a life without dictation, to live without restraints for all intents and purposes. Momochi Zabuza was an individual who believed in the unalienable right to live without physical and systematic constraints. To be able to control every aspect of his life was an integral part of his character. She supposed that was why he favored the idea of a coup d'état in Kiri, because Yagura was oppressive in every sense of the word.

He once told her _," I would die, before I let someone control me. Freedom is the only thing I have in this sad existence."_ Anyone or anything that attempted to rain on the roaring thunders of this liberation, would be either crushed or vehemently hated for the rest of his life.

And today, Teresa knew she would be meeting the brunt forces of this daunting question. Would he try to crush her? Would he hate her? For all she knew, either reaction would be justified as she would play the role of the one to rob him of this natural right. Damn the fates for thrusting this responsibility upon her...

Teresa sighed in resignation. Having to play the proverbial gravel in the judgement of someone's individual liberation was something she sorely wished she did not need to do. But failing this mission was not an option either.

She eyed the boy, Zabuza's companion, from a distance. He was traveling through the trees with a veiled determination that seemed to burst from the edges of such careful restraint. In all honesty, Teresa was glad that Zabuza had found someone loyal enough to stick by his side through thick and thin. Based on the observations from the conversations they had via his communicator, Popo had told her that the boy's relationship with Zabuza ran deeper than that of the mere acquaintanceship of fellow shinobi comrades. She was relieved that someone was taking care of him, if not deliberately, then by simply providing companionship; some form of rapport valuable enough to stave away the oppressive loneliness of the world.

The silver-eyed kunoichi knew that she would have to play the part of the harbinger of subjection today, she would have to be the one to take their freedom away. It made her head ache at the prospect, but Teresa had made up her mind.

She unsheathed her blade from its scabbard and threw it towards the boy. The sword came spinning towards him at an alarmingly quick speed, so swift that it was invisible to the naked eye. That is, until it hit its target, right in to the stalk of a tree branch that he had precariously jumped on moments before.

The boy's head shot towards her, eyes wide in trepidation, as if he had seen an apparition.

"You..." he managed to grunt out, voice trembling in fright and from a lack of use these past three days.

Before he could even blink, Teresa had already rushed towards him and grabbed him roughly by the wrists. She bound his limbs together with chakra rope, as if in one fluid motion, and all within a matter of seconds.

The boy spluttered. "H-How the—?" She did not even allow him to gather his wits as she taped his mouth shut and threw him over her shoulder.

"You two have been causing a lot of trouble for me. You and Zabuza," the blonde admonished as she jumped down from the branch and proceeded to travel on foot.

Her only response from the boy was a muffled cry of confusion. She could gauge from the look in his eyes that a deep-seated bewilderment had settled into the fine lines. He was probably perplexed at the fact that she knew who his companion was, moreover, at the fact that she was still alive and breathing.

"You ought to hold tight, boy. I'm going to release some of my ki to travel at full speed. It will be jarring," she warned.

Still in shock and shouting muffled curses under his gag, the boy squirmed under her hold. Teresa rolled her eyes.

"Well, don't blame me if you end up nauseous and on the floor," she responded indifferently. "I warned you..."

Suddenly, a wave of ki came pouring out of her muscles, and the ground shook from the sheer intensity of its power. To this, the boy let out a muffled shriek, terrified at the amount of peerless energy the silver-eyed kunoichi had instantaneously released. It was as if the air around them had grown impossibly heavy, as if it were quite literally weighing down on his body; with a spark of chakra that was so electrifying, it pricked at his skin.

And then they took off, vanishing into thin air.

* * *

She happened upon their destination just in time to see the scene unfurl before her. Zabuza had just trapped Kakashi in a water prison jutsu and his clone was charging at Naruto.

Teresa went into battle instantly, foregoing any other thought in mind other than shielding her son from the incoming attack. In a blur of moments, she had ran towards Zabuza's clone. Following the direction her natural instincts told her to move, Teresa let the ki surge through her body and enhance each movement.

Her blade was readied at the precise moment her chakra reached her hands and in a rippling effect, the sword came crashing down upon the clone. The young shinobi she had been holding with her other hand had loosened his gag and shouted," Zabuza-san!" but his shouts went unnoticed in the tumult of it all. Zabuza's clone dispersed into a million droplets of water from the impact of her rippling sword and as the fog cleared, Teresa was able to finally get a good look at her old comrade.

"S-Senpai?" The Kiri shinobi stammered.

He was staring back at her, mouth agape as she called out towards him in warning. "Sorry, Zabuza, I cant let you touch my son."

Having lost all concentration, Zabuza's water prison jutsu burst, freeing Kakashi from his hold. The silver-haired jounin fell into the water as if carelessly tossed away like a mere rag doll. He shot up from its depths, seemingly forgotten, before swimming his way back to the land to fall in place with his team. Protecting them was paramount to all other issues, and from the looks of it, it would seem that the blonde kunoichi would be the one taking hold of the reins from here on out. Teresa and the rogue nin had been engaged in a silent battle, eyes locked on one another as if the whole world had suddenly stood still.

From a distance, the genin of Team 7 were spectating in bemusement. The universe had a funny way of working as it was, for who would have thought that Konoha's Silver-Eyed Witch was familiar with their enemy? The carpenter beside them had also been quiet, too involved with watching the mysterious woman who suddenly appeared as if from nowhere, only to confront their enemy. Kakashi stood in front of all four of them, with his main priority of protecting them still at the forefront of his thoughts, but his eyes narrowed dangerously at the shinobi who he had been fighting to the death only moments before. He shared the same confusion with them all, wondering how in the world could Teresa know Momochi Zabuza, the Demon of the Mist.

By his side, Naruto felt Ino tentatively touch his shoulder as she leaned into his ear.

"...Naruto-kun...is that your mom?" She questioned in disbelief.

The blond nodded in response before all three of the children shared a mutual look of confusion among themselves.

Teresa had stepped forward, tossing the boy she had captured earlier aside as she attempted to address her old comrade in a more proper fashion. "It's been so long, Zabuza," she mused. "I wouldn't have thought that you'd be running amuck, causing trouble in foreign lands. You're a wanted man. You're wanted by Konoha, you know. They've dubbed you as an organized criminal."

The man was still in shock. At loss for words. "I-I don't understand...Teresa-senpai...Why...Why are you here?"

"I was sent on a mission by the hokage, a manhunt of the sorts—for two shinobi who have been terrorizing Konoha outposts here in the Land of Waves. Prior to the mission, however, the only information I had, never really specified any familiar names...But, then I confronted your companion," her eyes landed towards the boy who she had roughly thrown to the ground and who was also currently squirming from his bindings. "I followed him and based on your communications, I found the coordinates of your whereabouts."

A grim look contorted on his face. _"So you're here to capture me..."_

"Yes. Yes I am," she nodded. "But it seems that you've been tangled up in a rather...precarious situation." Her eyes darted towards Naruto and she pointed at the boy in nonchalance. "You see that boy over there, the one you were about to maim? That is my son. And the man that you just tossed into the water, that's my son's sensei. They are on a mission. And you're not supposed to be a part of their objective, Zabuza."

"What?"

"Zabuza—you may have been a dear friend, but I don't condone your actions. And I don't like the fact that you've threatened my child," she said in a low voice.

"But, I didn't even know you had...a son..."

"Of course you didn't know, and you certainly didn't know you were attacking people who were precious to me. But, that doesn't change the fact that you were. And I'm not one for sparing those who have personally affronted me."

The last vestiges of shock had fled his countenance in exchange with a more solemn look.

"They were in my way," he reasoned stiffly. "I have a mission of my own, to kill the old man who's threatening my associate. They were protecting him. I'm only trying to fulfill the task that was given to me."

"Your associate..." she hissed. "You are talking about Gato, aren't you?"

A look of guilt flashed within his eyes. "Yes."

"Why are you here?" She asked in all seriousness. "Why are you performing organized crimes in a foreign land? You should be in Kiri, you have no business here in the Land of Waves."

Something indiscernible flashed across his countenance. The malicious shadows that flooded the slopes of his face seem vulnerable and hollowed now, only a gleam of it is reflected by light. She sees frustration, and then she sees nothing. "...I was exiled. The coup d'état failed. And so did the second one that I tried to enact. Everyone is gone. Jinin is dead. Kushimaru is dead too. Ameyuri fled the village. There was nothing left for me to do but leave and to bide my time by collecting funds for another coup. Yagura is still in office and the village is falling apart. I have no choice."

Teresa silently winced at his words; all of the previous anger she had felt had suddenly drained from her body upon hearing this.

Having left the village to fend for itself with the knowledge that Obito was terrorizing its people and performing ritual genocide left a mass of guilt lingering on her chest. To further add salt to the wound, he had mentioned that Jinin had died. That hurt. She felt as if the Hidden Village of the Mist's current crumbling infrastructure was a result of her own actions. She left them and left Obito to do as he pleased. She could have killed him... _She should have killed_...

 _No_...She could never in her life bring it upon herself to kill him. Even if he raised hell on earth, something would always pull her back from raising her sword. And Teresa hated herself for that.

It was all her fault.

"I...I am sorry," she said in earnest.

He gave her a strange look, one that seemed to bespeak his own sense of regret mixed with small remnants of anger, sorrow, and guilt. She knew that feeling, because for the most part, she felt it too.

"I can't change the past circumstances of the village, but I can change the future. I need funds to make that happen and I can't very well collect any through conventional means when I'm banished from my own home," Zabuza conceded.

"So, now you're scrambling about and working for criminals? I thought I taught you better than that, Zabuza."

"Oh, you did...believe me, you did...but, I must admit...I'm at an impasse. I care more about the wellbeing of my home than my honor and if I have to forego any sense of morality, I'm willing to do it."

Teresa pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. "But now, don't you see? You've put me in a difficult situation. I've been ordered to capture you...Do you-Do you think I want to do that? Dammit, Zabuza...Do you think I really want to do this right now? I assure you, if I had it any other way, I would be the last person to ever want to take your freedom away, but your actions have put me in a situation where I have no other choice!"

He gave her a wry, humorless smile."I know you'd never want to do that, senpai..." His voice had softened.

There was a sadness that lurked beneath his darkened features, something indicative of real, genuine sorrow. Sorrow at the world. Sorrow at the position they were in. Because their history was too long, too nuanced, to ever forget—and that was what changed the situation entirely. His eyes were a window to the soul. They imparted with her words that she knew he wished, but did not have the hubris to say. They said, _" I'm sorry. I'm sorry it has to be like this. I never wanted it to be like this."_

"But, I guess we both have no other choice," he finished as he unsheathed his broadsword and walked towards her. "So, I'll give you a wager."

"Excuse me?"

"...Because you meant so much to me when I was still a fledgling, and because you still remained to be one of the most influential figures in my life..." he continued.

There hanging within the corners of his mouth, lay the beginnings of a sad smile burgeoning on his features as he said this, and between the blurred lines, stood a look of understanding. She knew where he was going with this. She knew that despite the evils of the world that had forced upon him this nefarious disposition, buried underneath, was the same boy she had once knew.

"I don't need your flattery, Zabuza...Not right here, not right now..." A stray tear collected at the corner of her eye, streaming down across her cheek. There was something painful about seeing an old friend who changed for the worst. She had seen it in Ilena. She had seen it in Obito. And now, she was seeing it in him.

"...I'll spare you my immorality, because you meant so much, because you still mean so much. For years, I tossed away my honor and sense of morale to keep moving forward and to do the things I did. But for you, Teresa-senpai, I'll offer you my last willingly honorable act."

"What are you proposing?" She questioned, despite the fact that she already knew where he was going with this.

"...I'll return to your village willingly. Without protest, without another word. I'll even let you take the both of us-" his eyes wandered towards Haku who furrowed his brows in protest "-If you defeat me in battle."

"Zabuza, you know that I'll—"

"If you win, I'll go with you. I'll let them throw their shackles on me. I'll live the rest of my life in solitude...But...But if I win, well, I suppose you'll have to let me go."

She was taken aback. They both knew what the resulting outcome would be. And yet, he decided upon bestowing this ultimatum on her. Zabuza was consenting to give up his freedom; that precious fundamental right that he cherished with every fiber of his being. He was willing to give it up for her. Why was he willing to give everything up?

"...Why?" she felt herself whisper with the wind.

"No questions, Teresa-senpai. At this point, it'll all just be frivolous. We both know the answer," He said. "Just tell me, do you accept my terms?"

"I...I have no choice."

"As I've expected," he nodded, before offering her a wistful look. "I don't hate you, you know. I won't hate you. I don't think I ever can."

"Please..." Her eyes watered slightly. "Please don't say this. Not now, not when we're—"

"Besides, senpai, at the very least, I'll be able to showcase my improvement as a swordsman. It's been nine years since we've last seen each other, and I'm not the brat I used to be."

"I'm sure you aren't."

He swung his broadsword around, spinning it in good humor as he gazed into her silver eyes. She did the same, unsheathing her blade, but with a grim look that permeated her features, one that could not fully express the sadness she was feeling. She had told herself that she had made her decision. But with Zabuza's admonition, and the fact that he was willing to offer her his freedom, Teresa felt guilty now. It hurt much more knowing that he would give himself up to her, if only for her own sake. That simple confession had changed everything.

"Like old times, eh, senpai?"

"...Yes...like old times..."

Memories of frigid days basking under the wan sun and practicing their sword fights came to mind. Lying against the Seven Swordsmen's compound walls. Supping at the end of the day with Jinin. _Old times.._.Old times that seemed so foreign to her now, yet haunting all the same.

"Are you ready, senpai?" he said, bowing his sword towards her as he readied himself in a battle stance.

She nodded. _Just like old times..._ "Yes, I'm ready."

She closed her eyes for a fleeting moment, allowing herself to release a fragment of ki to efflux throughout and over her body. As she opened her eyes, the irises had taken on a different form, with her sclera now taking on a golden hue and her pupils transforming into thin slits. Teresa would be releasing some of her yoki today, if only a little, because she knew that Zabuza would want her to fight him without pretense. The ground quaked beneath them from the release of her ki. In turn, she watched as he too, released his chakra, a deep, purple wave of energy had engulfed him, taking in the form of a demon.

Two demons battling it out on the field.

And then the two shinobi came charging towards each other in speeds almost unfathomable with the sound of metal clashing upon metal resonating through the mist.

* * *

Naruto watched with eyes glazed over in astonishment as he saw his mother charge towards Zabuza.

For so long, he was only told stories about her power, never once fully seeing her in all her glory. But today... He now understood why so many shinobi whispered tales about her like some divine being. When she released her chakra, the ground beneath began to quake and it felt as if gravity itself was pulling him down, weighing on his body. It was heavy, oh so heavy. The power of this chakra felt equally electrifying as it pricked at his skin and undulated through the air like waves. Though heavy and almost insurmountable, there was something about it that felt...peaceful. And the boy could not quite put his finger on what it was that made him feel this way.

"W-What's happening?" he heard Shikamaru stutter from behind him as the earth continued to shake.

"Kami, the air feels so heavy!" Ino shouted.

"She's releasing her chakra..." He heard his sensei speak. "I've only ever seen this once, but..."

When, Zabuza and Teresa's swords came at a halting clang, an explosion of energy from the force of their swords colliding had swept the earth beneath, only to burst into hundreds of fragments.

"Stand back!" Kakashi ordered from in front of them, placing his arm out to shield them from the stray volatiles. "We can't get caught up in the debris."

When the dust cleared, the two shinobi were enshrouded by the vibrant glow of their own chakra. Zabuza's was frightening; a purple mound of raw energy that seemed to take on the form of pure malice. Like a demon with its fangs protruding from its mouth, his chakra swirled in bits and pieces of evil intent. But somehow, this raw energy had paled in comparison to his mother's; who unlike Zabuza's bright chakra, had been burnished and almost translucent with its energy. It was all light in pure form, with thin wisps of raw power running throughout. Peaceful, yet brimming with bursts of pure chakra.

He watched as she fluidly flipped through the air, pivoting and blocking Zabuza's attacks as if she had been a part of the wind. Before he could even blink, he realized that she had formed a set of hand seals and her sword seemed to glow brightly, as if in flames. She swung her sword, allowing the wind to act as a medium for the flames to travel through, as it carried gyrating bursts of fire to come shooting towards the Kiri nin. He flipped back, hands forming into seals as well, and a spinning burst of water shot up from his hands, washing away some of the scathing fires. All too slow, the flames consumed and managed to burn a part of his arm.

"I see you modified your wind-cutter, senpai," he called out in ragged breaths.

"Indeed," the blonde warrior replied before charging towards him with her blade jutting out.

They parried one another's attacks, allowing the momentum that had built up on their blades to continue in an invisible clash and clang. So fast were these movements, none of the spectators could really discern where their swords were even colliding. There was only the rough rumbling of the earth from the impact of each attack and the grating sound of metal scratching against metal.

Zabuza vanished in to thin air before spinning upwards, as he did this, he spun his sword in twists, aiming it down upon the other warrior. She grunted as she blocked his maneuver, the force of the attack had also sent her flying. She spun in the air to blunt the momentum and land carefully on her toes.

Lost in the familiar dance of derision, each warrior's attack fell into a routine. They would attack with their swords. Block. Pull away to enforce an offensive attack. Block. Attack with their swords once more. Block. However...

This time, as Zabuza came to a halting crash towards her blade, Teresa had focused on the flow of chakra. Her eyes narrowed as she read each node that ran through his system, understanding what move he was edging near. With that, she used her senses to pull at one of the minute strings of energy and just as his blade came thrusting down upon her, his arm suddenly twitched and the movement of his sword veered off its initial path.

Bewildered, Zabuza glared. "Senpai, what did you do?"

"Manipulated your ki," she said simply. "Because of this, I was able to change the trajectory of your attack."

Naruto gazed on with his teammates by his side as they listened to both shinobi's quick exchange before they proceeded into battle once more. Ino gave him a look of awestruck when their eyes met.

"That's something unheard of. To manipulate someone's chakra and change the direction of their attack...that almost sounds like a bloodline technique."

"Sure does," Shikamaru whistled.

"But, it's not. Mom doesn't have any kekkei genkai. It's just...it's all just her, I guess..."

All three of the young shinobi looked on, watching Teresa of the Faint Smile with a childlike wonder.

Suddenly, Teresa grabbed Zabuza by the arm, using her legs to side-sweep him on his lower abdomen. As she did this, she felt the force of her leg hitting his muscles, puncturing through tissue, before breaking several ribs. He cried out in agony as she flung him towards the water.

Not wanting to let him catch a break, Teresa reached into its depths to pull him out, before a body of water began to envelop her. His water prison jutsu seemed to engulf her every limb with his surrounding chakra, enough to temporarily halt her. From the distorted images through the water ball, Teresa saw him. He had a dangerous glint in his eyes as he swung his sword to come slicing at her trapped body.

Before he could do this, Teresa let out a burst of yoki, and the prison she had been entrapped within burst into steam. The waves of energy that rolled off of her from this sudden release of ki sent Zabuza tumbling back from the water and on to dry land once more.

"Kami, that was powerful!" Ino called out as the wind resulting from Teresa's attack fiercely blew at them.

"What the hell just happened?" Tazuna shrieked as he cowered behind the spectating shinobi.

"If you don't want to lose your head, I suggest you stay back as far as possible," Kakashi warned, still in his defensive stance as he attempted to shield his genin.

Both Teresa and Zabuza came crashing near their vicinity as if from nowhere. The ground burst from underneath them sending more debris to fly every which way. All Naruto could make out from their distance was his mother and Zabuza picking themselves up from the ground to charge head first at one another again. Before Zabuza could conjure another water jutsu, Teresa formed some hand seals and yelled," Katon Karyū Endan!"

A fusillade of flames had erupted from her and as the wind picked up it swirled in rings engulfing both of their forms. The fires seemed to take on the form of a flaming avian as it swirled around the air.

In turn, Zabuza had conjured up a series of hand seals before yelling," Suiton Suiryūdan no Jutsu!" And a speeding body of water in the form of a dragon came charging at the flames. As the two jutsu met head on, an explosion occurred upon contact, blowing everyone away from the power of it all. As the scene began to clear, a gush of hot steam poured out into the air as it slightly burned at their skin.

"We have to get out of here!" Kakashi yelled. "It's too dangerous now!"

"No, I, I don't want to leave her!" Naruto cried out in panic.

"Trust me Naruto, she doesn't need you here. You're presence will only be a burden knowing that you can get caught up in the turmoil."

"But..."

All five of the spectators had suddenly halted as their attention focused on the shinobi coming their way. Zabuza's body came flying through the clearing and he landed on a deposit of sedimentary rocks, shattering them even more so as his body landed roughly on the ground. Teresa came speeding towards him, grabbing him by the straps of his shinobi attire and straddling his bloodied body. Her sword was dangerously close to his neck, so close that if she were to add just a little pressure, she could cut through his carotid artery.

"Yield," she grunted.

"I...I..." his words were choked up by the blood that was now dripping out of his mouth.

"Zabuza, don't make me do this," she repeated, eyes blinking only to revert back to its original silver. "We made a deal, remember? Now, yield."

Degree by degree, the Kiri shinobi became hyper-aware of the air, stratified with heat; the grit of dust and blood that formed in his mouth; the delicate slopes of Teresa's visage that reflected light off the angles in earnest. With the gilded rays scintillating off her lithe frame at that very moment, it made her piercing silvery eyes appear so frighteningly bright; so hauntingly enigmatic as she stared him down with a glare that could make even Kami shrink.

With his hazy sight and fleeting consciousness she looked like an angel at the moment, _no_ , she looked like a harbinger of death. This was the Teresa he knew. The unyielding beast that seemed so god-like in her wake, yet human all the same.

"...Okay..."he finally found himself mustering up the energy to speak. "Okay...senpai...I...I know when I've been defeated."

He brought his hands up weakly to signal that he was done. A white flag for any shinobi in battle.

Teresa visibly relaxed, taking her weight off of him to retract her sword. The rogue Kiri nin lay flat on his back, spent from giving his all in battle.

"You did great, Zabuza..." she whispered, still staring into his dark eyes though swollen and marred with countless cuts and bruises.

"...Thank...you...Teresa..." he said as he closed his eyes, too fatigued to keep them open.

* * *

Behind her, Naruto, Kakashi, and the rest of the team had been staring at them in complete silence. Too shocked to even speak.

Teresa looked up at them with imploring eyes. "I'll be taking him and his associate in now, I'd suggest you continue with your mission as well."

Kakashi stepped forward, gulping. "Thank you, Teresa-san."

"No need to thank me, I was only here coincidentally on my own mission. Zabuza was the shinobi I was looking for."

The three genin stepped out from behind Kakashi and ambled towards her timidly. This garnered an amused smile from the kunoichi. "What? I don't bite, children."

"I-Is...Is he dead?" the young blonde kunoichi of the group questioned.

All eyes landed on the rogue Kiri shinobi who had laid passed out on the earthen floor.

"No, he's just unconscious. His body has been through hell after this battle, I don't think he will be waking up soon," Teresa answered.

It was Naruto who came barreling into her lap with arms wide open as he dug his face into her tattered shirt. "M-Mom, I was so scared. I thought you were gone when your jutsus collided...that explosion...I th-thought that you..." the boy was wailing.

"Oh, come on, my little fox," she chuckled as she stroked his hair soothingly. "Did you really think I could die from just that?"

He looked up at her, eyes watering even more. "Yes!" he said before bursting into more tears.

Kakashi laid his palm flat upon her shoulder and smiled. "Well, at any rate, you helped the team out with your assistance. I'll be honest, I wasn't so sure if I would make it out alive fighting Zabuza."

"False. You are just as capable, if not more, Kakashi."

"No, no. It's true. I haven't fully developed my sharingan quite yet and it was really using a lot of my chakra. If you hadn't intervened, Kami knows what would've happened..."

The wizened bridge builder tentatively peaked over Shikamaru's shoulder. "S-So...Does that mean it's safe to continue building the bridge?"

Teresa looked at him, frowning. "No...not yet...I may have captured Zabuza and his companion, but Gato is still on the loose." The old man gasped in fright at the mention of the business magnate's name.

"So, what do we do now, then Teresa-san?" Kakashi queried.

Teresa looked out towards the bridge that was under construction, watching as the last slivers of light in the sky were growing dim as the sun set beyond the horizon of the sea. The mist had cleared up in the skies, allowing a clear view of the vivid hues of pink and white to coalesce into one. Night would soon be upon them.

Teresa narrowed her eyes. "I've got to take care of Gato."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I can't write fight scenes as good as I used to. It was a struggle to even finish this chapter.


End file.
